ROG Xbox Ally X Gets Nearly $200 Price Hike in Japan Amidst Global Memory and Storage Shortages

The ROG Xbox Ally X has reportedly gone up in price in Japan amidst the ongoing memory and storage crisis. The top-end Xbox-branded handheld from Asus now costs nearly $200 more in the country. The price of the lower-end ROG Xbox Ally, however, has not changed.

The price hike was spotted by Japanese outlet Otaku Souken (via VGC). As per the outlet, the price of the ROG Xbox Ally X has gone up from JPY 139,800 ($910) to JPY 169,800 ($1,106) — that's a hike of JPY 30,000, or nearly $200. Price of the ROG Xbox Ally with 16GB RAM remains at JPY 89,800 ($585).

Asus has not officially announced the price hike, but according to the outlet, the new price is now reflected on the company's official online store in Japan as well as on e-commerce websites of other electronics retailers in the country.

ROG Xbox Ally X runs on AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chipset

Memory Shortage Impact on Gaming Hardware

No reason for the price hike has been provided, but the report cites the shortage of memory and storage supply as a possible cause. The ongoing RAM and SSD shortages and price hikes have hit the gaming hardware market hard. Prices of consumer grade memory and storage, GPUs, and even some gaming consoles have gone up in recent months amidst short supply.

Consumer PC hardware, especially memory and storage, has seen a sharp rise in prices amidst short supply driven by strong AI demand for chips. RAM and SSD prices have doubled or tripled in recent months.

Video game consoles have also borne the brunt of the prevailing market conditions. Sony and Microsoft raised the prices of the PS5 and the Xbox Series S/X in 2025 even before the memory shortage began.

Prices of new generation of Windows-based handhelds from Asus, MSI, and Lenovo also saw a steep increase last year, breaching the $1,000 price point. Bloomberg reported this week that Nintendo was considering hiking the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026 due to the chip crisis.

Nintendo could hike the price of the Switch 2 in 2026
Photo Credit: Nintendo

Additionally, the AI-driven memory shortage has also affected the availability of several devices. Just this week, Valve confirmed the Steam Deck OLED was out of stock in the US due to RAM and storage shortages.

Sony and Microsoft's plans for the next generation of consoles are reportedly also impacted by the chip crisis. According to Bloomberg, the PlayStation parent could end up delaying the PS6 to 2028 or even 2029. Next-gen consoles were initially believed to be targeting a 2027 launch — seven years after the release of ninth-gen consoles, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X. That may not happen now. Microsoft, too, is reportedly not “fully internally committed” to launching the next Xbox, believed to be a PC/console hybrid running Windows, in 2027.

Earlier this month, Valve confirmed its upcoming PC/console hybrid, the Steam Machine, may be delayed due to memory and storage shortages. The SteamOS-based gaming console was initially planned for “early 2026” and will now launch in the “first half of 2026”. Valve has had trouble finalising the console's price due to market conditions.

The ROG Xbox Ally X and the Xbox Ally were launched in October 2025. The two handhelds run on AMD Ryzen Z2 family of chipsets and come with Windows 11 sporting a custom Xbox interface on top.