To say that 2025 was a busy year for the best handheld gaming consoles would be an understatement. Lenovo dropped two new systems with the Legion Go S and Legion Go 2, while MSI released the updated MSI Claw A8 (in markets outside North America). Of course, there was also the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Asus ROG Xbox Ally X. Even if we don’t factor in the Nintendo Switch 2, there were plenty of new handhelds for folks to choose from.
Most of 2025’s handhelds offered substantial updates over their respective predecessors. The most notable upgrade was the inclusion of the new AMD Ryzen Z2 and Z2 Extreme chip, which delivered increased performance and battery life for the systems that utilized the processor. There were also minor and major redesigns, such as the Legion Go S and its unibody chassis, the Legion Go 2’s OLED panel, and the ROG Xbox Ally’s controller-like hand grips.
