Remember when the Legion Go 2 seemed costly at $1,099 and up? Those days are gone—Best Buy now lists Lenovo’s handheld at $1,499 with a Ryzen Z2 or $1,999 with a Z2 Extreme. The latter originally cost $1,349, marking a $650 increase in just six months.
This price hike means Lenovo’s flagship could now be twice as expensive as a $999 Microsoft/Asus Xbox Ally X with the same AMD chip, and matches the price of the more powerful GPD Win 5 with AMD Strix Halo from last year. With current trends, it might only be a matter of time before Microsoft’s handheld Xbox also experiences a price increase. (Currently, Asus spokesperson Anthony Spence indicates “no price increase on the horizon” for the US.)
Though the Legion Go 2 boasts features like detachable controllers and an impressive screen, the $2K price tag is staggering.
RAMageddon is impacting all tech, particularly gaming hardware. Sony recently increased the PS5 price by $100 to $150, and Ayaneo halted plans for its $1,999-and-up Next 2 as storage costs rendered it “unsustainable.” GPD has slightly raised prices for its Strix Halo handhelds but still offers the Win 5 with 32GB RAM, 2TB storage, and an AI Max Plus 395 chip for $2,500.
Retroid also discontinued the 12GB model of the Retroid Pocket 6 handheld due to rising RAM costs.
It wasn’t long ago that handhelds only saw a $100 price bump. Lenovo’s other handhelds have similarly crept up in price, as shown by PCWorld’s Michael Crider.
It remains to be seen if the SteamOS Lenovo Legion Go 2 will reach its suggested $1,199 price. Lenovo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.