2025 looks to be a huge year for handheld gaming. After many years in the wilderness, pushed aside by the rise of mobile games and the departure of PlayStation from the handheld market, there’s now a medley of portable consoles and gaming PCs enjoying a renaissance in quality on-the-go gaming experiences.
The biggest name among them: the Nintendo Switch 2. The company pulled off an incredible comeback with 2017’s Switch, reversing its fortunes after a limp response to the Wii U, selling 150 million units over the next seven years, recycling its underutilised Wii U library, and launching two of the best Zelda games ever made. With a new version expected in early 2025, everyone is waiting with baited breath to see what Nintendo has up its sleeve, though it’s likely Nintendo will play things safe to continue its current winning streak.
The Switch 2 looks to be less of a revolution, and more of an evolution, with backwards compatibility for Switch games and a similar form factor to the 2017 console. However, while we’re low on official details, we are high on leaks.
Reports so far suggest an expanded 8-inch LCD screen, 1080p output in handheld mode, 4K upscaling in docked mode, electromagnetic Joy-Cons that ditch the current Switch’s rail attachment system, and a custom version of Nvidia’s T234 mobile processor that should at least beat the PS4 and Xbox One for performance. You might even be able to use a Joy-Con as a mouse!
While I’ll personally miss the benefits of the Switch OLED’s display, I can’t deny the draw of a more powerful LCD Switch, and it’s very likely to be a hot purchase for many years to come. It’s just worth asking whether the Switch 2 is going to be quite as successful, or desirable, in a market now crowded with excellent handheld competitors,
Alongside the ongoing success of Valve’s Steam Deck, we’ve just seen a fleet of new gaming PCs unveiled at CES, many of which build on previous 2024 devices and have allowed manufacturers to iterate faster than Nintendo’s near-decade-long console cycles. So can the Switch 2 repeat its victory lap in 2025, or not?
The First Switch Era Comes to a Close, Will a New One Begin?
For the first few years of the Nintendo Switch’s lifespan, there was no meaningful competition – handheld gaming had been largely abandoned by other electronics manufacturers, content to leave the space to mobile gaming and the steady succession of Nintendo DS consoles.
The Switch blew apart the assumption that handheld consoles had fallen out of favor with the gaming public, showing a massive appetite for on-the-go gaming bolstered by modern display technologies and a pinch of Nintendo ingenuity (Home console? Handheld? Why not both?).
However, success naturally breeds imitators. In 2022 we got Valve’s Steam Deck, a gaming PC that cost a little more than the mainline Switch, but managed to ride on Nintendo’s popularisation of handheld gaming while offering a distinct modus operandi – bringing a PC gamer’s entire Steam library on the go.
The Steam Deck cleaves pretty close to the Switch in many areas, including an equivalent 1280×800 resolution and a price tag only slightly higher than the $350 Switch OLED (for the base Steam Deck model, at least). However, it’s set apart by access to the Steam library, and a chunkier, more ergonomic build that isn’t as focused on fitting a child’s hands.
While there’s no immediate Steam Deck 2 in sight – likely not until 2026 or beyond – Valve’s machine is still very much in demand, and now surrounded by competitors. There’s a wide range of handheld gaming PCs running on the Windows operating system, from the Asus ROG Ally X to the GPD Win 4, which offer the full benefits of a Windows desktop PC, with access to Steam, Epic Games, Xbox, GOG, and itch.io stores alongside other apps and services.
And with a new suite of AMD Z2 chipsets launching in 2025 for improved performance and battery life, these portable gaming PCs look better placed than ever to take on a Switch successor.
Who’s the competition?
The biggest story in new handhelds is the Lenovo Legion Go S, a newer, lighter version of last year’s Legion Go that ditches the former’s removable controllers for an all-in-one design, doubles its RAM to 32GB, and packs a 120Hz display.
What’s most interesting is that it comes in both Windows 11 and SteamOS configurations, meaning you can opt for a third-party Steam Deck or a more fleshed-out Windows ecosystem. You’ll also be able to choose between models with the new Z2 Go chipset and an older Z1 processor, meaning a wide range of prices from $599 to $729 when taking all the different configurations into account.
A next-gen Legion Go 2 is also on the horizon this year, packing in a new AMD Z2 Extreme processor and doubling its battery capacity – helpful given the Legion Go tended only to last an hour or two between charges.
Elsewhere, Acer’s Nitro Blaze range is expanding with an 11-inch handheld with a 2560×1600 120Hz display that should make the Switch’s screen look positively scrawny – even if it costs $1199 and sounds like a literal handful. And the MSI Claw 8 AI+, an update to the MSI Claw, has a new Intel Lunar Lake chipset, an improved 80WHr battery, an 8-inch 120Hz display, a $899 price tag, and a lot to prove after the dour reception of last year’s model.
I also wouldn’t rule out the Asus ROG Ally range. The $799 ROG Ally X topped our best handheld gaming PC guide last year, thanks to a hefty 80WHr battery, 1TB of storage, and brilliant on-the-go performance. We said in our review that, “with more and faster memory and double the battery as the original Ally, the Ally X will run any modern game without dying in an hour and a half.” There’s no official announcement for a 2025 successor, but the Ally X could well find a 2025 audience, or get a replacement later in the year.
Which Handheld Will Win 2025?
These souped-up Windows (and SteamOS) handhelds have some key benefits over the Switch 2. They largely sidestep the sub-$400 market, leaving that easily-won territory to Nintendo or less capable devices, and focusing on more impressive specs.
Compared to the Switch ecosystem, you can generally expect more powerful processors, higher resolutions and frame rates, and the openness of a Windows ecosystem that can access multiple game storefronts and therefore a greater variety of games. Even if you’re locked into SteamOS, Steam alone has over 70 thousand games, compared to only a handful of thousand on Nintendo Switch. So it’s worth remembering that the Switch, for all its charm and first-party exclusives, has a much smaller list of available titles overall.
However, Windows 11 is not an ideal interface for a handheld gaming PC, given it was never designed with that purpose in mind. There’s something to the focus and simplicity of Nintendo’s operating system, which is often what draws people to a dedicated console in the first place.
A new Switch will likely fall short on specification compared to many handhelds released in 2025, without the pure power that comes with pricier processors and a focus on playing AAA PC games. But an improved handheld experience, and some AI upscaling to boost its capabilities in docked mode, should go some way to plugging the gap. And given its domination of the sub-$400 market, and the strength of the Nintendo Switch name, I don’t think any of these competitors are going to meaningfully dent the Switch 2’s success, or come close to its sales numbers, and I’d call Switch 2 the best choice for most gamers in 2025.
For committed PC gamers, or anyone with a lot more than $400 cash to splash, then the Lenovo Legion Go S may be the best shout – especially with a SteamOS option for those who don’t want to bother with Windows 11’s nonoptimal interface. Until we see an official Steam Deck 2, this is likely the best way to play your Steam library on the go.
For a Windows handheld, it gets a little trickier. I don’t have too high hopes for MSI’s latest handheld, and while Acer may have cornered the 11-inch handheld market, it probably won’t be a good fit for most, uh, hands. I’d probably recommend the Legion Go S in a Windows formulation, or stick to the Asus ROG Ally range.
A decade ago, a surge in portable consoles would have seemed ludicrous, but the category is seeing explosive growth with no sign of letting up just yet. Now, there’s a huge suite of options to enjoy, whether you’re after a portable Steam library, a Windows gaming handheld, or a souped-up Zelda machine. There’s only one real winner in 2025 – and that’s handheld gamers.