Zotac reveals first-ever gaming handheld to battle ROG Ally X & Steam Deck

Zotac has entered the PC gaming handheld ring with the Zotac Zone, a new Windows-powered handheld that’s big in size and price.

There’s no shortage of PC gaming handhelds. Whether it’s the Steam Deck or the never-ending supply of boutique Ayaneo handhelds, there’s one everywhere you look in every shape and design you can imagine.

Despite this ongoing onslaught of portable gaming devices, Zotac, a name mostly associated with mini PCs, has announced a handheld of its own. Set to be a Windows-powered device similar to that of the Asus ROG Ally, the Zotac Zone will mark the first instance of a gaming handheld by the PC brand Zotac, and is set to be powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 8840U APU.

The upcoming handheld is currently being shown off at the Zotac booth at Computex 2024. The AMD Zen 4-based handheld will feature 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, along with WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 support.

According to Zotac, the handheld also features an AMOLED 7-inch “multi-touch” display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, and a front-facing camera, something we haven’t seen on a handheld since the PS Vita.

Zotac

Zotac also boasts that the Zone will come with two-stage adjustable triggers and hall effect sticks, to fight against any stick drift issues. Unlike the Valve handheld, the Zotac Zone is expected to be one of the biggest handhelds there is.

A full specs sheet obtained by videocardz revealed that the handheld is expected to weigh just under 700g and come in at 12.2 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches. The reasoning behind its hefty size isn’t known. Whereas the Asus ROG Ally X weighs more than its predecessor likely because of its new 80 Wh battery, the Zone is only expected to launch with a 48.5 Wh battery.

Its price point is also on the large size. According to a report by Geeknetic, the Zotac Zone is expected to launch at $800. This is a steep contrast to the Steam Deck, where even the 1TB OLED model is $151 cheaper than the alleged Zone MSRP.