Canceled Lenovo Legion Play handheld prototype leaks online

A mysterious Lenovo handheld prototype has leaked out of China after being sold on a marketplace.

Lenovo, makers of laptops and PC peripherals appear to have been planning an Android handheld for release in 2021. It appears to be called the Lenovo Legion Play and would have tackled some light gaming, as well as streaming.

The device was found in a bulk lot by a Chinese reseller, and YouTuber Taki Udon has done a rundown of it.

There’s no given reason from Lenovo as to why they canceled the device, but in the video, Taki Udon points out that the unit they bought is dated 2021.

This indicates that Lenovo was pretty close to completing it, but for whatever reason decided to scrap the project.

The mysterious handheld

Interestingly, as the device runs Android, Taki Udon has discovered that the Lenovo device actually runs similar software to the Logitech G Cloud.

Logitech’s handheld, the G Cloud, is an Android handheld designed to focus on providing quality streaming gaming. 

Currently, the Logitech G Cloud is the closest anyone will get to the hardware. We covered that back at its announcement, with some mild confusion surrounding the price versus the spec available. 

Onboard with the Legion Play, there’s a Snapdragon 888, which might be why hard-to-run emulated PS2 games are much smoother than the Logitech G Cloud.

The Lenovo Legion Play handheld has the same gaming launcher interface embedded in the system. Whether Lenovo canceled the device after hearing about Logitech’s or decided to get out of the way due to Valve’s Steam Deck is still a mystery. 

Although the handheld is a prototype, it appears fully functional. In the video, Udon plays some emulated games, streams Final Fantasy XV and is even able to grab some benchmarks.

The Lenovo Legion Play was never formally announced, with only some leaks cropping up in 2021. 

With no real reason behind the Legion Play’s cancellation, we have reached out to Lenovo for further information.