Asus is Gearing Up to Sell an Affordable Version of ROG Ally

ROG Ally, Asus's first portable gaming system, was released a few months ago. Because the Windows-based portable was expensive, not many gamers could afford it. Making things more accessible, Asus has now unveiled the Ally version that is priced at $600, according to a report from The Verge.

A new version of ROG Ally has reportedly begun selling by Asus. The Z1 Extreme chip from the previous iteration has been replaced by an AMD Z1 chip in the current iteration. Additionally, the handheld now costs $600, which is far less than that.

Why Asus launching cheaper variant of ROG Ally?

The report mentions that the Z1 chip is relatively more mid-ranger than the Z1 Extreme. And, the performance has been reduced comparatively. Also, this change does not bring any significant advantage in terms of battery life.

That said, the Z1 chip has two less CPU cores and four less GPU cores compared to the Z1 Extreme. This makes it clear enough that the performance will take a hit. However, this will possibly address the major heating issue that the console suffered around the SD card area and ended up damaging the card that was plugged into the device.

Despite all this, the Z1 version of ROG Ally will still compete with the more affordable and less powerful Steam Deck and the price tag of $600 appears to be decent enough.

India launch of the Asus ROG Ally with Z1 chip is still a mystery as the company hasn’t mentioned anything about launching the console in India. Although, the Z1 Extreme powered version is already on sale and can be purchased at Rs 79,990.

Asus plans to shift it suppliers from China to India

In addition, Asus is partnering with contract manufacturer Flex to set up a new factory in Chennai using the Indian government's IT equipment manufacturing incentive scheme. With a market value of $15 billion, Asus aims to expand its manufacturing in India and become the second or third largest factory in the world.