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Asus' Arnold Su on Xbox Ally X, GeForce RTX 50 Series ROG Laptops and Company's India Retail Plans

Asus' Arnold Su on Xbox Ally X, GeForce RTX 50 Series ROG Laptops and Company's India Retail Plans

The ROG Xbox Ally X, priced at Rs. 1,14,990, is selling "much higher" than the base model ROG Xbox Ally in India, Asus' Arnold Su told Gadgets 360.

Written by Manas Mitul, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 11 December 2025 18:50 IST

Asus' Arnold Su on Xbox Ally X, GeForce RTX 50 Series ROG Laptops and Company's India Retail Plans

Asus' Arnold Su at the launch of the ROG Lab retail store in Bengaluru

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Highlights

Asus launched India's first ROG Lab retail outlet in Bengaluru
The ROG Xbox Ally X and Xbox Ally went on sale in India on October 16
Asus' Arnod Su said demand for Xbox Ally X was more than the supply

Asus has made a point to be quick to launch its products in India. Whether it's the company's newest line of AI-powered PCs or its GeForce RTX 50 series of ROG gaming laptops, customers in the country don't have to wait. Asus took a few months to bring its ROG Ally lineup of gaming handhelds to India after their global launch, but with the new Xbox-branded ROG Ally devices, the Taiwanese manufacturer wasted no time.

The ROG Xbox Ally X and the Xbox Ally went on sale in India on October 16, the same day it launched in major markets globally. Priced at Rs. 1,14,990 and Rs. 69,990, respectively, the new handhelds come at a considerably higher price point than 2023's ROG Ally and last year's ROG Ally X (review). But that hasn't dampened the spirits. In fact, according to Asus, the higher-end and much more expensive Xbox Ally X is outselling the base model in India.

It came as a surprise for Asus, too, said Arnold Su, vice president of the company's consumer and gaming PC business in India. “Earlier, when we launched the ROG Ally (in India), the lower version, the mainstream version, sold much more than the premium version,” Su told Gadgets 360 on the sidelines of the launch of ROG Lab, Asus' premium retail experience store, in Bengaluru on Thursday. “But this time, our forecast went wrong.”

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The ROG Xbox Ally X is priced at Rs. 1,14,990 in India

ROG Xbox Ally X Outselling Xbox Ally in India

According to the Asus executive, the ROG Xbox Ally X is selling “much higher” than the Xbox Ally, despite a price difference of Rs. 45,000. Su said it was too early to divulge sales numbers for the new handhelds in India, but confirmed that the demand for the Xbox Ally X was outpacing the supply. The higher-end device forms the majority of the sales of the new Xbox-branded handhelds in the country.

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“Right now, we are not able to fulfil the demand,” Su said, calling the development a “happy burden.”

Prices for the new generation of Windows-based gaming handhelds have shot up this year. The MSI Claw A8, the Lenovo Legion Go 2, and the Xbox Ally X — all of which run on Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip — cost over $1,000 in the US. But even when pre-orders for Xbox handhelds went live in September, the Xbox Ally X sold out on the Xbox Store worldwide.

Su said that perhaps in the handheld segment, pricing was not the “first factor.”

Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, ROG Xbox Ally Go on Sale in India: Price, Features

“New learning for us that in this game console segment, people are ready to pay more than Rs. 1 lakh to buy the machine.”

Asus' new ROG Lab outlet opened in Bengaluru on December 11

The new handhelds are also likely benefiting from being a part of the Xbox ecosystem. There's a sizeable number of people in India who own an Xbox console. All of them are prospective customers for Asus. Su said that those users can play a game on their Xbox at home and continue playing it seamlessly outside with the Xbox Ally in their backpack.

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The new ROG Xbox Ally handhelds arrive in a rapidly changing games hardware market that now accommodates traditional home consoles like PlayStation and Xbox, hybrid handhelds like the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and Windows-based handheld PCs from OEMs like Asus, Lenovo, and MSI. Last month, however, Valve stretched the market further by unveiling the Steam Machine, a PC/console hybrid that allows players to access their Steam library on a TV.

Just like the Steam Deck sparked off the handheld race, the Steam Machine, which launches early 2026, could create a new PC/console hybrid segment. Is Asus, which already makes All-in-One PCs, looking at Valve's new product and thinking it could do something similar?

“Actually, it's still a very new concept,” Su said. “And as a company, of course, we are watching all our competitors' moves, so we need to further study how it works.”

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GeForce RTX 50 Series ROG Laptops

The response to Asus' new line of GeForce RTX 50 series ROG laptops has been “pretty good,” too, Su said. The company refreshed its gaming notebook lineup with Nvidia's latest GPU in May; in the first 2–3 months following the launch, Asus held close to 65 percent of the market share for GeForce RTX 50 series laptops in India, Su claimed.

Now, with more brands bringing their competing products to market, the share has now gone down to 30-40 percent. “It's still a significant share,” Su said. According to him, Asus has a first-mover advantage — it was the first OEM to bring the new line of RTX 50 series laptops to the Indian market, right when Nvidia's global embargo lifted. That ‘first-to-market' strategy will continue, Su said.

But Asus has ambitious plans for its laptop business in India. The company is the market leader in the gaming segment, but it's the third-largest seller in the consumer laptop segment in the country, with an 18 percent market share. Asus is selling close to 1 million laptop units in a year here, but aims to double it to two million units annually by 2030.

The ROG Lab outlet houses the latest GeForce RTX 50 series ROG laptops

Asus Launches ROG Lab Retail Outlet in Bengaluru

PC penetration in India — which stands at around 10-12 percent — is bound to grow, Su said. And Asus is aggressively expanding its retail footprint in the country. On Thursday, Su was in Bangalore to launch the country's first ROG Lab store, positioned as a premium retail experience for both gamers and creators where they can test gaming laptops, Xbox Ally handhelds, and other products hands-on before deciding to buy — much like Apple's swanky new retail outlets in the country.

According to Su, the ROG Lab is an “evolved version” of the traditional ROG store — think less edgy, RGB gamer energy and more premium, brighter retail experience. Around 30 percent of customers who buy an ROG laptop don't even play games, Su said. So, the idea is to attract creators and high-end users, in addition to gamers.

The new store has Asus' newest line of ProArt series laptops, RTX 50 series ROG notebooks, and Xbox Ally handhelds on display. It also comes with a gaming zone — a 3v3 gaming table setup, where users can sit down and see how well the laptops can run games. The store also houses after-sales support services, something that Asus is trying to improve.

The company is also working with retail outlets like Croma, Reliance, and Vijay Sales to bring its product line to their stores, Su said. Offline retail counts for about 70 percent of Asus' sales in India, and the company plans to open more stores in 2026. ROG Lab outlets will target metro cities first, Su said, with plans to identify locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad. According to him, most regular users want to test out a product before parting with their money. And Asus' retail strategy keeps that in mind. “You come here, we will tell you why you need this machine, how this machine can solve your requirement.”

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Further reading: ROG Xbox Ally X, ROG Xbox Ally, Xbox Ally X, Xbox Ally, Asus, Arnold Su, ROG, ROG Lab

Manas Mitul

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In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about football and tennis, but maybe don’t bring up his video game backlog. More