I've been thinking about this a lot over the festive period, not least because handheld gaming has quietly become my primary way to play again, but something about this year in the handheld gaming space hit differently.
Not since the Nintendo DS days has handheld gaming been such a daily driver for me as it was with the Steam Deck and then the Xbox ROG Ally X this year, to the point I've actually only turned on my Xbox Series S for the kids.
2025 really was the year of handheld gaming, with more options than ever to choose from; the space has exploded. Steam Deck momentum has carried a wave of new devices, the ROG Ally became an Xbox, Lenovo fired out more variants than anyone asked for, and the Switch 2 finally arrived with some actual horsepower behind it.
It felt like every month carried another announcement and spec sheet, another potential "Steam Deck killer," but the truth is that no handheld on the market will compete with the Nintendo Switch or the Steam Deck in a real way until they fix this one glaring problem — the naming conventions are an absolute mess.
The Switch is simple. Other gaming handhelds need to take note.
The Nintendo Switch, and this year the Nintendo Switch 2, are a mass market hit. Clarity helps a lot, you know what a Switch is. You know what a Switch Lite is, and you know what a Switch OLED is. All very self-explanatory titles. Even parents who don't know the difference between RAM and a sandwich toaster can walk into a shop and buy the right thing.
RELATED: Lenovo Legion Go 2 vs Legion Go S: Which is better?
Compare this simplicity to the PC handheld lineup right now? If you dropped the whole range of options in front of someone who isn't chronically on Reddit, they'd have no idea which is the "good" one. The Legion Go S alone has multiple variants with different chips, RAM, storage, and different operating systems, all at similar price points.
The SteamOS version is fantastic, the Windows version? Not so much (go read our Legion Go S review vs our Legion Go S Steam OS review to learn why). How on earth is a normal consumer meant to know this?
And then, there is Xbox
The Xbox Series S and X are named to be clearly segmented (although some may argue the two-tier system IS confusing for the average Mom popping into Target). But most people get that the Xbox Series S is the entry-level, and X is the high-end model.
So why didn't Xbox apply this naming style to the Xbox ROG Ally line-up? The Ally X is the premium model; the white one should have been the Xbox Ally S to more clearly differentiate them. It fits the brand, and it clearly communicates the difference. And what is the difference between the Rog Ally X and the Xbox Ally X besides the shape?
RELATED: ROG Ally X vs Xbox ROG Ally X
Then again, I am talking about the same brand that saw fit to have an Xbox Elite, and Xbox Elite Series 2 and Xbox Elite Series 2 Core controllers....
Consumers shouldn't need a spreadsheet to buy a gaming handheld, and right now, Steam Deck is doing the best
Right now, many handhelds sit in the $500 to $800 range, and you would hope that anyone spending that kind of money on a device would be doing a modicum of research. But it is a problem that two devices can sit on a shelf in a similar price bracket, yet one may have double the RAM, a better chip or OS, and unless you've spent hours researching, you'd never know.
That's not how you grow a market and take on the Nintendo Switches of the world. If anything, the Steam Deck is miles ahead in this regard.
I've recently picked up the Xbox ROG Ally X, and I'm enjoying it. Access to more libraries is great, and the hardware is definitely up to the task of more power-hungry games than my Steam Deck LCD was, but I'm constantly fiddling with settings. I'm dealing with updates all the time (some of which are halfway through a game, leading to me losing progress). I'm often troubleshooting with it. With the Steam Deck, I rarely had to mess around with it.
SteamOS is the only PC handheld experience that truly feels like a console out of the box, and Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) has a long way to go before it competes in this regard. I'd say the Steam Deck is the most mainstream of all the gaming handhelds and is actually built for consumers and not just hardcore enthusiasts (though there are certainly many that tinker and do impressive things with their Steam Deck, but it's optional).
2025 was huge for handheld gaming, but 2026 will make or break it.
This year was packed with huge milestones for handheld gaming. Lenovo, with its SteamOS partnership, Switch 2 is finally hitting the market, and Xbox is rolling out the FSE to try and smooth out the kinks for Windows-based handhelds (it hasn't worked... yet). And also everyone and their uncle arguing over if the Xbox ROG Ally is an Xbox or not (it's not, guys, sorry).
If handheld PCs want even a sliver of the success of the Switch, then going forward, the industry needs clearer naming conventions and product tiers, clearer marketing, and much clearer explanations of what each device can actually do and run. The appetite is certainly there for handheld gaming to become huge again, and the lifestyle fit is undeniable. But people need to understand what they are buying.
Did you buy a gaming handheld last year, or are you holding out to see what's coming next? Do you even care about these handhelds at all? Let me know in the comments and vote in the poll!
Follow Windows Central on Google News to keep our latest news, insights, and features at the top of your feeds!
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
