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A brand new survey shows Nintendo and Valve leading the pack within the gaming handheld sector, but Windows-based devices are closing the gap. Because the gaming handheld sector continues to turn into congested with more offerings in various shapes, sizes, and configurations, trends are starting to emerge. While industry-specific sales numbers are usually not available for this particular market segment as an entire, it’s evident that electronics hardware manufacturers are all in in terms of taking money from the hands of gamers on the go searching for a transportable system.
At this point, the now-aged 3-year-old Steam Deck would normally be considered obsolete given the varied latest technologies which have arrived since its release, but Valve has done such a solid job of support and quality control that it still ranks as number one amongst gamers in a brand new survey done by TechPowerUp. Nonetheless, depending on the query, Nintendo does take a major lead, while the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Go, with AMD’s Ryzen Z1 processors, after which the Intel-based MSI Claw, all using Windows, have a consistent third place rating in each charts. Nonetheless, the ASUS ROG Ally is clearly the popular selection of Windows-based devices. Remember that, for whatever reason, TPU swapped the colour coding for the manufacturers in its slides, which does make it a bit trickier to discover each.
Summary:
- Steam Deck: 36% distribution of usage, 12% amongst ownership
- Nintendo Switch: 35% distribution of usage, 13% amongst ownership
- Windows-based combined: 19% distribution of usage, 6% amongst ownership
- ASUS ROG Ally: 12% distribution of usage, 4% ownership
The Nintendo Switch stands out as a beast of a unique color in that among the many above-listed systems, it’s the only one which may be categorized as a console as a result of its included dock and hybrid performance modes. Nonetheless, these kind of options are sometimes available for various gaming handhelds as well. It’s also currently unique with its custom NVIDIA processor, while competitors are either using AMD or Intel mobile processors. Meanwhile, ASUS and Microsoft recently announced their partnership for the Xbox ROG Ally X (1, 2) that will likely be shipping in the autumn and will easily increase sales within the Windows segment of gaming handhelds. Sony can be expected to rejoin the fray with one other mobile offering being within the works, which is rumored to supply some level of PS5/PS4 performance.