And here we thought the Steam Deck was the only dark horse handheld competitor coming after the Switch. Now, thanks to a few leaks, it turns out Razer has one in the works too. And it’s making it with Qualcomm.
A Razer sharp console
These leaks come by way of VideoCardz, a reliable game-hardware news site. Alongside a few cheeky snaps, the site also gives us a look at some key specs and a working title for the console: a Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x and Razer Handheld Developer Kit.
For a modern handheld built by Razer, the console certainly looks the part, sporting some rather sharp edges and a sleek finish. It’s got all the same buttons and joysticks the Steam Deck has, sans those interesting trackpads, but has them laid out in an Xbox-esque fashion. I.e. with the left and right joysticks at a diagonal to each other rather than parallel.
Additionally, there’s a 1080p webcam sitting above the display, though we’re confused as to what purpose it might serve.
The handheld sports Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This SOC reportedly touts a CPU 20% faster than its predecessor and 30% more power efficient, and a GPU 30% faster and 25% more efficient than the previous one. Perfect for a mobile gaming system.
Regarding overall specs for the console, you’re looking at a 120Hz HDR OLED display (size is currently unknown, though it looks to be around 7 to 8 inches diagonally). There’s a USB-C port for XR accessories as well as a USB-C port dedicated to DisplayPort, and we assume there’ll be at least one other port to charge up the 6000mAh battery.
We’d be surprised if there was no headphone jack, but the leaked slides boast support for ‘Snapdragon Sound’ alongside an image of a pair of TRC earbuds, which has us a little nervous.
Connectivity-wise, there’s support for Wi-Fi 6E and 5G mmWave, which VideoCardz points to as potentially supporting streaming services like Xbox xCloud.
VideoCardz’ wording seems to imply that, while this handheld could absolutely hit shelves as a consumer console, it’s marketed towards developers who want to build their products using Qualcomm’s gaming kit.
That’s all we know for now, though with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit currently going on we’ll hopefully get some more info very soon.
