Asus South Africa has finally announced the official local price and launch date of the company’s brand-new handheld gaming console – the ROG Ally. The first official mention of the ROG Ally was initially met with scepticism. But that’s to be expected when you announce anything on the 1st of April.
Following some reassurance from Asus a few days later and a global announcement earlier this month, Asus has announced that SA gamers can get their hands on the new handheld from 15 July 2023.
The eager gamers who already had their money set aside can secure their unit as pre-orders are now open through Asus’ online store or via Makro.
Asus making us eat our words
Now, about that price. When we reported on the global announcement, we mentioned that Asus would have a tall order matching or beating the price of Valve’s Steam Deck, the ROG Ally’s chief competition. Unless you count the Nintendo Switch, but you really shouldn’t.
The Steam Deck only recently became easily available in the country with Incredible Connection currently shelving the 64GB and 256GB units for R17,000 and R21,500 respectively.
Coming in at R16,000, R1,000 less than the cheapest Steam Deck here in SA, the ROG Ally and its newer AMD Z1 Extreme APU with 512GB of SSD storage (with the option to expand) and a 1080p 120Hz-capable display makes trying to pick between the portable gaming consoles seem like an easy choice.
Stuff was lucky enough to spend some time with an early review sample of the ROG Ally. We aren’t allowed to tell you everything just yet, you’ll have to wait for the 15th for that. But keep your eyes peeled for our initial thoughts soon.
