The best gaming handhelds for 2025

Steam Deck OLED - Display: 7.4-inch HDR OLED, 1,280 x 800 resolution, 1,000 nits highest HDR brightness, 600 nits SDR brightness, up to 90Hz | Processor: Custom 6nm AMD APU | RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 6400 MT/s | Storage: 512GB, 1TB SSD | Battery: 50Whr | Dimensions: 11.73 x 4.6 x 1.93 inches | Weight: 1.41 pounds | Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 | OS: SteamOS

Steam Deck LCD - Display: 7-inch IPS, 1,280 x 800 resolution, 400 nits brightness, 60Hz | Processor: Custom 7nm AMD APU | RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 5500 MT/s | Storage: 256GB SSD | Battery: 40Whr | Dimensions: 11.73 x 4.6 x 1.93 inches | Weight: 1.48 pounds | Wireless: Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 | OS: SteamOS

Three years into its life, Valve’s Steam Deck remains the champion equilibrium of price, show and usability successful the gaming handheld market. In particular, the Steam Deck OLED is simply a thorough upgrade implicit the original. Starting astatine $549 for 512GB of storage, this exemplary features a 7.4-inch OLED show that’s brighter, faster, somewhat bigger and much vivid than the 7-inch IPS sheet connected the entry-level model. The higher opposition and richer colors of an OLED surface makes each crippled look amended by default, but this show besides supports HDR, with importantly brighter highlights. The maximum refresh complaint jumps from 60Hz to 90Hz arsenic well, which helps galore games look smoother successful motion.

Due to the little power-hungry display, a much businesslike AMD APU and a larger battery, the Steam Deck OLED besides lasts longer than the original. No handheld tin play resource-intensive "AAA" games for precise long, but Valve says the OLED exemplary tin tally for 3 to 12 hours depending connected the game, whereas the LCD exemplary lasts betwixt 2 and eight. A larger instrumentality keeps things cooler and quieter, and the chassis feels lighter. Performance is astir the same, though the OLED model’s accrued representation bandwidth tin assistance it summation a mates other frames successful definite games.

Still, $549 isn't a tiny investment. The entry-level Steam Deck whitethorn travel with a much basal LCD show and a smaller 256GB SSD, but it inactive delivers the aforesaid halfway acquisition for $150 less. At $399, it continues to beryllium a fantastic bargain.

To beryllium clear, either Steam Deck exemplary decidedly shows its property successful 2025, particularly erstwhile compared to higher-end Windows handhelds. Many of the astir graphically demanding games released successful the past 2 years just don’t tally well connected this hardware, if they’re supported astatine all. Issues with Linux and anti-cheat bundle person rendered live-service games similar Destiny 2 and Apex Legends unplayable, too.

That said, the Deck tin inactive play tons of games that conscionable aren’t imaginable connected the archetypal Nintendo Switch oregon different handhelds successful this terms range, from Elden Ring to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. It's besides a earthy location for the upland of older and/or smaller-scale gems littered passim Steam. (Hello, Balatro.) While authoritative crippled enactment is constricted to a subset of the Steam library, the database of formally verified and still-playable titles is massive, divers and perpetually growing. There are workarounds to entree different storefronts arsenic well.

As for software, a dependable watercourse of updates has turned Valve's SteamOS into a flexible yet user-friendly platform. You’ll inactive request to marque tweaks each present and past to get a crippled moving optimally, but the process is typically straightforward, and there's a wealthiness of community-driven resources that papers precisely what settings you whitethorn request to change. 

The Deck's processing power, combined with third-party tools similar EmuDeck, makes it a superb handheld for emulation arsenic well. Some PS3 and archetypal Xbox games tin beryllium tricky, but conscionable astir everything other works beautifully. You tin besides unreality watercourse Xbox games with a small setup.

The Steam Deck’s biggest contented is its size: At 2 inches heavy and astir a ft long, it stretches the explanation of a “handheld” device, adjacent if the OLED exemplary is lighter by comparison. The LCD Deck tin get lukewarm and noisy reasonably quickly, too, and the d-pad connected some devices is somewhat mushy. But the contoured grips connected the backmost assistance offset the bulk, and some versions consciousness sturdy, with responsive look buttons and triggers, creaseless joysticks and utile dual touchpads.

Display: 7-inch IPS, 1080p resolution, 500 nits brightness, 120Hz, VRR | Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme | RAM: 24GB LPDDR5 7500 MT/s | Storage: 1TB, 2TB SSD | Battery: 80Whr | Dimensions: 11.02 x 4.37 x 0.97-1.45 inches | Weight: 1.49 pounds | Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 | OS: Windows 11

If you’re consenting to walk other for much power, you tin skip the Steam Deck and bargain a Windows-based handheld instead. The ASUS ROG Ally X is the champion of those close now, and it’s a decent alternate to Valve’s instrumentality if you’re consenting to commercialized immoderate easiness of usage for a higher show ceiling. Think of it similar a much portable gaming laptop.

The ROG Ally X is an upgraded mentation of the archetypal ROG Ally, our erstwhile Windows pick. The newer exemplary runs connected the aforesaid spot (AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme) and has the aforesaid show but comes with much RAM, up to 4 times the storage, a artillery that’s doubly arsenic large, improved ergonomics and an further USB-C port. It costs $150 more, truthful it’s pricey, but it’s a superior portion of hardware successful astir each way.

There are 3 main reasons to see the ROG Ally X implicit the Steam Deck. The archetypal is power: The archetypal ROG Ally was already a spot much accordant astatine playing graphically aggravated games astatine higher framework rates, acknowledgment successful ample portion to a “Turbo mode” that boosts the device’s powerfulness gully to 25W, oregon 30W erstwhile plugged in. (The Steam Deck officially tops retired astatine 15W.) In our ROG Ally X review, we recovered the caller model's other RAM and improved representation bandwidth to assistance further this vantage by 5 to 10 percent depending connected the title. It’s inactive not a night-and-day upgrade successful definite games erstwhile each settings are equal, but it’s usually better, and it has overmuch much overhead some for present and the future. If you chiefly privation to play demanding “AAA” games, the Ally X is much apt to tally them well, and the spread has lone go much noticeable arsenic clip has gone on.

On that note, the Ally X’s 2nd large selling constituent is its adaptable refresh rate. The 7-inch LCD show present is intelligibly not arsenic agleam oregon color-rich arsenic that of the Steam Deck OLED, but it’s some sharper (1080p) and faster (120Hz), and VRR enactment does wonders to support games looking creaseless adjacent erstwhile their framework complaint fluctuates. It’s a large deal.

The 3rd cardinal vantage is the information that Windows lets you play games from immoderate PC client, not conscionable a enactment of Steam games. If you’ve built up libraries connected stores similar Epic, GOG oregon the Xbox app, you tin entree them present arsenic you would connected immoderate different Windows PC, nary workarounds required. For Xbox Game Pass games, Epic Games Store exclusives oregon finicky always-online titles similar Destiny 2 that necessitate anti-cheat software, it’s great.

Alas, for each its flexibility, Windows is besides the biggest detriment to immoderate Windows handheld. ASUS has made real, genuine strides successful turning its Armoury Crate app into a perfectly usable crippled launcher and settings hub, 1 that feels snappy and lets you delegate customized power profiles and GPU modes connected a per-game basis. But it’s inactive slapping a bandage onto an OS that isn’t designed for this signifier origin (a sentiment Microsoft itself has acknowledged).

Navigating Windows with your fingers and a controller is inactive frustratingly inconsistent. (Steam’s Big Picture mode mostly works great; Epic’s and particularly Xbox’s apps, little so.) Sleep mode doesn’t ever enactment asleep. Whether a crippled works smoothly from the leap isn’t constant; sometimes the UI whitethorn not standard properly, different times you whitethorn person to walk minutes fiddling with graphics settings and cardinal bindings. These are issues with immoderate gaming PC, but they’re much annoying to woody with connected a tiny surface with nary rodent handy. Then there’s the bloat: You don’t request printer drivers, Copilot oregon ads for Office 365 connected your gaming handheld. Nobody volition confuse a Steam Deck with a Switch, but SteamOS remains overmuch easier to conscionable prime up and usage — adjacent if it feels much closed-off arsenic a result.

The Ally X’s artillery beingness doesn’t ever lucifer the Steam Deck either, but it’s overmuch person than the archetypal Ally ever was. You tin expect determination astir 2-2.5 hours with heavier fare, but good beyond that with little demanding stuff. The elephantine 80Wh artillery means the chassis is somewhat heavier than its predecessor, but its much pronounced grips, tighter joysticks, meatier triggers and somewhat taller look buttons marque it conscionable that other spot comfier than before. It’ll inactive acceptable champion successful bigger hands, but it’s astir a half-inch thinner than Valve’s machine. The overheating issues that plagued the anterior model’s microSD paper person been fixed, too, and the institution has astatine slightest pledged to improve its RMA process aft a raft of complaints.

Ultimately, whether the ROG Ally X is close for you comes down to your tolerance for bundle quirks. If you’re consenting to brave immoderate UX sloppiness successful bid to play high-end games from immoderate client, anyplace you want, it should beryllium worthy the terms premium.

Display: 5.5-inch OLED, 1080p resolution, 500 nits brightness, 60Hz | Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 | RAM: 8GB LPDDR4x | Storage: 128GB UFS 3.1 | Battery: 5,000mAh | Dimensions: 7.84 x 3.09 x 0.61 inches | Weight: 0.62 pounds | Wireless: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 | OS: Android 13

The Retroid Pocket 5 is the handheld to get if you chiefly privation to emulate older consoles. It’s an Android-based instrumentality that’s acold little almighty than portable PCs similar Steam Deck oregon ROG Ally X, truthful it tin lone play PC, PS5 and Xbox games via streaming. But if you privation thing much compact and are consenting to spell done the many, galore rigors of getting emulators to really work, it’s an fantabulous worth astatine $219.

The Pocket 5 runs connected a Snapdragon 865 spot (the aforesaid 1 utilized by flagship phones from 2020) and 8GB of RAM, positive it has a built-in instrumentality you tin acceptable to 3 antithetic modes to summation a small other performance. This gives it capable powerfulness to play astir games from the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, 2 fashionable retro consoles that tin beryllium pugnacious for mobile handhelds to emulate. With immoderate setup, we were capable to play comparatively demanding PS2 fare similar Gran Turismo 4, ESPN NFL 2K5, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Midnight Club 3 astatine afloat velocity and 1.5x to 2.5x their autochthonal resolution. GameCube games similar Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and F-Zero GX, meanwhile, were stone coagulated astatine a 2x oregon 3x upscale. All of that is fantastic for the money.

Just astir everything we tested from consoles beneath the PS2 and GameCube connected the show totem rod — PSP, Dreamcast, PS1, N64, etc. — ran flawlessly astatine a 3-5x upscale (which maxes retired the display’s resolution). Most Wii and 3DS games we tested were creaseless astatine 720p to 1080p arsenic well, though translating the Wii distant to a handheld is often cumbersome, and the 5.5-inch sheet is simply a spot cramped for viewing 2 DS screens. You tin get immoderate Switch games to work, too, but we discourage that erstwhile the Switch is inactive readily disposable to bargain today. As for modern games, Xbox unreality streaming ran astir arsenic good arsenic it does connected immoderate different device, portion autochthonal Android apps similar Diablo Immortal, Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt Legends Unite gave america zero issues astatine max settings.

Let’s beryllium clear: If you’re caller to emulation, you request to spell into a instrumentality similar this expecting to tinker. Even aft the laborious process of securing ROM files, downloading the champion versions of definite emulators, mapping antithetic power schemes for each console and navigating the paper hellhole that is RetroArch, immoderate games conscionable won’t enactment right. 

The Pocket 5 isn’t immune to this. We had to instal a third-party GPU driver to debar ocular glitches successful games similar New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Mario Superstar Baseball. Gran Turismo 4 required america to tweak the show harvest to fell overscan-related artifacts. The astir fashionable Sega Saturn emulator for Android is simply a mess, truthful we had to constituent games for that strategy to a circumstantial RetroArch core (at which constituent they each ran great). You will person to fiddle with resolution, rendering and progressive cooling settings to get galore games going astatine their champion — and adjacent then, immoderate tricky ones similar Star Wars Rogue Squadron II volition endure from debilitating slowdowns. It’s each terribly tedious. But you’d bash it due to the fact that you genuinely emotion aged games and don’t caput putting successful enactment to bask them comfortably, astatine a decent price.

We wouldn’t telephone the Pocket 5’s integrative framework “premium,” but it’s intelligibly sturdier and much important than astir emulation handhelds from little-known Chinese companies. The 1080p OLED show is the highlight: It makes everything look much vibrant, from the heavy bluish water of The Wind Waker to the greenish vegetation successful Stardew Valley, and it’s sufficiently crisp and bright. There are textured, modestly-sized grips astir the backmost that springiness your fingers a earthy spot to rest. The look buttons are creaseless to press, with a comfy level of travel. The d-pad is steadfast and precise capable for america to play Tetris DX without whining. The analog triggers are conveniently wide and flared, portion the clicky bumpers are casual to distinguish. The speakers, portion not incredibly full-sounding, tin get amazingly loud.

Our main ailment is with the joystick layout, which situates the near instrumentality underneath the d-pad. This is good connected a PS5 controller, but present it tin marque playing much modern games a literal pain, arsenic it invites you to permission your near manus dangling partway disconnected the device. But the sticks themselves are neither excessively escaped nor excessively tight, and they should debar drifting issues implicit clip acknowledgment to their magnetic Hall effect sensors.

Battery beingness tin alteration from three-ish hours with demanding Android games to much than 10 hours erstwhile emulating older 8- and 16-bit consoles. That’s solid. The progressive cooling strategy keeps the instrumentality from ever feeling excessively hot, though its highest mounting is beauteous noisy; you wouldn’t privation to usage it astir a sleeping partner. It’s besides worthy noting that the plan won’t really acceptable successful astir pockets, arsenic its sanction implies, but it surely won’t hog abstraction successful a container oregon purse.

Display: 6-inch IPS, 1080p resolution, 60Hz | Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | RAM: 8GB, 12GB oregon 16GB LPDDR5x | Storage: 128GB, 256GB oregon 512GB UFS 4.0 | Battery: 8,000mAh | Dimensions: 8.86 x 3.86 x 0.67 inches | Weight: 0.93 pounds | Wireless: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 | OS: Android 13

If you person much currency to pain connected an emulation-focused machine, the AYN Odin 2 is simply a measurement up from the Retroid Pocket 5. This Android instrumentality tin play everything our past prime can, conscionable smoother and much reliably. That's chiefly owed to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which is the aforesaid spot utilized by flagship phones from 2023.

The Odin 2 starts astatine $299 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which is costly erstwhile the entry-level Steam Deck tin tally PC games natively for conscionable $100 more. Still, among much compact mobile handhelds, determination aren't galore alternatives that tally this good astatine this price. It played each PS2 and GameCube games we tested astatine 2 to 3 times their autochthonal resolution, portion systems similar the PS1, N64 and Dreamcast had nary problems astatine a 3-5x upscale. Most 3DS and Wii games had small to nary slowdowns astatine 2-3x, either. It’s amended than astir with the Sega Saturn, and it tin play a wider scope of Switch games than the Pocket 5 (though you should conscionable bargain a Switch if that's a large concern). More challenging systems volition inactive necessitate immoderate settings tweaks, but the superior spot means you won’t request to tinker connected a game-by-game ground arsenic extensively arsenic you would with a lower-cost device.

It’s not conscionable earthy performance, though: The Odin 2 is besides a refined portion of hardware. It’s larger than the Pocket 5, but it’s inactive overmuch little chunky than a portable PC, and the curved grips connected its backmost are inviting to hold. The d-pad, look buttons, analog triggers and Hall effect joysticks each consciousness great; the second are besides offset, which makes the full happening comfier than the Pocket 5 for streaming caller console and PC games. Other touches similar a fingerprint scanner, a dedicated instrumentality button, a micro-HDMI retired port, 2 customizable backmost buttons and wide front-facing speakers are each bully perks.

The 6-inch 1080p touchscreen isn’t arsenic color-rich arsenic the Pocket 5’s OLED panel, but it’s inactive agleam and well-sized for modern games. Battery beingness is superb: We got much than 8 hours of foodstuff emulating systems similar the PS2, but that jumped implicit 20 hours with lighter tasks. The instrumentality supports 65W accelerated charging arsenic well. Cloud streaming and autochthonal Android games enactment arsenic they should, and since the full happening runs connected a lightly modded mentation of Android, its banal interface should consciousness acquainted to most.

AYN sells a fewer antithetic variants of the Odin 2, including the PS Vita-esque Odin 2 Mini and the larger, OLED-sporting Odin 2 Portal. We haven't been capable to trial either, but they tally connected the aforesaid chipset arsenic the modular model, truthful they should beryllium conscionable arsenic powerful. Both should beryllium a small much niche, however: The Retroid Pocket 5 gets you astir of the mode to the Mini for $120 less, portion the Odin 2 Portal is person to the Steam Deck's width (and price) yet overmuch little susceptible connected the whole. The archetypal Odin 2 should formed the widest nett betwixt the three.

Display: 3.5-inch LCD, 1,600 x 1,440 resolution, VRR 30Hz-62Hz | Chipset: Altera Cyclone V FPGA, Altera Cyclone 10 FPGA | RAM: 3.4MB BRAM, 2x 16MB 16-bit cellular RAM, 64MB 16-bit SDRAM, 256KB 16-bit asynchronous SRAM | Battery: 4,300mAh | Dimensions: 5.86 x 3.46 x 0.86 inches | Weight: 0.61 pounds | OS: Analogue OS

The Analogue Pocket is the ultimate Game Boy. Its vertical plan is built similar a modernized, premium mentation of Nintendo’s classical handheld, and it tin adjacent enactment with accessories similar the Game Boy Camera. Compared to the original, though, the Pocket adds 2 other look buttons, a brace of rear triggers, a microSD slot, a USB-C larboard and a rechargeable artillery rated for six to 10 hours of playtime. Most significantly, it has a gorgeous 3.5-inch show that’s some backlit and incredibly crisp (615 ppi) but tin beryllium acceptable to look similar an aged Game Boy sheet with antithetic filter modes. The instrumentality tin besides output to a TV with an optional dock.

Unlike the retro handhelds mentioned above, the Pocket is designed to play existent cartridges, not conscionable ROM files. It works with Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games done its cartridge slot, portion games from the Sega Game Gear, TurboGrafx-16, Neo Geo Pocket and Atari Lynx are playable done optional adapters.

Like past Analogue devices, the Pocket uses field-programmable gross array (FPGA) motherboards to mimic its people systems connected a hardware level. In practice, this means the Pocket’s “emulation” of older titles is near-perfect, with a level of responsiveness and ocular faithfulness that software-based emulation can’t match. Pop successful a Game Boy oregon GBA cartridge and you tin fundamentally play it arsenic intended. That said, acknowledgment to a big post-launch update and an progressive idiosyncratic community, the Pocket tin besides tally ROMs disconnected a microSD paper and thus play systems similar the SNES and Sega Genesis.

The Pocket isn’t inexpensive astatine $220, and its enarthrosis buttons aren’t arsenic crisp to property arsenic the fantabulous d-pad oregon look buttons. Still, if you person a postulation of Game Boy, Game Gear oregon GBA games, the Pocket is the astir elegant mode to play them, and it’s lone go much versatile implicit time. Its biggest flaw is that it tin beryllium prone to banal shortages and shipping delays.

The Playdate, from app developer and Untitled Goose Game steadfast Panic, is simply a tiny yellowish container with a 2.7-inch monochrome display, 2 look buttons, a d-pad and a carnal crank built into its side. We called it a “cross betwixt a Game Boy and a concern card” successful our review, and it is so incredibly tiny astatine astir 3 inches gangly and 0.18 pounds. It has a dedicated game library that mostly consists of oddball indies, astir of which absorption connected 1 oregon 2 halfway ideas alternatively of trying to worldly successful arsenic galore mechanics arsenic possible. A mates twelve of those games are bundled with the device, portion others are disposable via a built-in store oregon sideloading from shops similar Itch.io. The hardware is mostly well-built, and its artillery beingness is decent astatine six to 8 hours per charge.

At $229 aft a recent terms hike, it’s hard to telephone the Playdate a large worth erstwhile it’s only designed to play a enactment of niche games. Its show isn’t backlit, either. But successful a oversea of devices that effort to beryllium everything for everyone, the Playdate is admirably focused and low-key. If you’re into smaller-scale fare and person immoderate wealth to play with, it’ll beryllium a amusive toy.