TECH NEWS – The ROG Xbox Ally X wasn’t cheap when it launched in late 2025, but its Australian RRP has now climbed from AU$1,599 to AU$1,799. A AU$200 jump is especially steep when you consider that price hikes for machines like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X usually come in AU$30 to AU$50 steps.

In other words, anyone who wanted a ROG Xbox Ally X and didn’t buy one yesterday now has a fresh reason to be annoyed. PC Gamer says its author has contacted Asus for an explanation and will update once they hear back. In the meantime, the higher price is already showing up across Australian retailers selling the unit directly, including JB Hi-Fi and Asus’ own store.

The timing lines up neatly with a broader squeeze: the RAM and storage crisis is in full swing, and very few gaming hardware makers are avoiding the fallout. The situation is affecting Steam Deck OLED supply in some regions, and it’s reportedly pushing Nintendo to rethink pricing for the Nintendo Switch 2. Sony is also reportedly looking at delaying the PS6, while Valve has confirmed its Steam Machine and Steam Frame hardware has been pushed back because of the shortages.

The ROG Xbox Ally X is one of the two Xbox-branded handheld PCs released last year, and it’s the more powerful of the pair. The lower-end ROG Xbox Ally hasn’t moved from its AU$999 RRP, and it can often be found for at least AU$100 less in practice – including what Amazon was offering at the time of writing. PC Gamer also points out that Dave James reviewed the Ally X last year, liked it, and still flagged it as an expensive machine even then.

According to VGC, the ROG Xbox Ally X has also taken a similar hit in Japan, roughly equivalent to AU$200. PC Gamer frames the wider crisis as largely driven by the AI boom, which is swallowing resources so blue-tick X users can crank out cringe Star Wars approximations and declare the film industry finished. The CEO of Phison is cited as believing many consumer electronics manufacturers “will go bankrupt or exit product lines” by the end of the year because of the crunch.

Source: PC Gamer