Will the Switch 2 be the best portable device of 2025?
2025 is shaping up to be a huge year for portable gaming. After years in the wilderness, sidelined by the rise of mobile gaming and PlayStation’s retreat from the handheld market, there is now a mix of handheld consoles and gaming PCs enjoying a renaissance for quality gaming experiences on the go.
The biggest name among them: Nintendo Switch 2. The company made an incredible comeback with the Switch in 2017, reversing its fortunes after a lackluster response to the Wii U, selling 150 million units over the next seven years, recycling its underutilized Wii U library, and releasing two of the best Zelda games ever made. . With new version expected early 2025Everyone is waiting with bated breath to see what Nintendo has up its sleeve, although it’s likely that Nintendo will tread carefully to continue its current winning streak.
The Switch 2 feels less like a revolution and more like an evolution, with backwards compatibility with Switch games and a similar form factor to the 2017 console. However, while we don’t have many official details, we do have a lot of leaks.
Reports so far suggest a larger 8-inch LCD screen, 1080p output in handheld mode, 4K upscaling in docked mode, electromagnetic Joy-Cons that ditch the current Switch’s rail-mount system, and a custom version of the mobile processor Nvidia T234, which should at least outperform the PS4 and Xbox One in performance. You might even be able to use Joy-Con as a mouse!
Although I personally will miss Benefits of the Switch’s OLED displayI can’t deny the appeal of a more powerful LCD switch, and it’s likely to be a popular purchase for many years to come. It’s just worth wondering whether the Switch 2 will be as successful and desirable in a market that’s currently crowded with excellent portable competitors.
In addition to the continued success of Valve’s Steam Deck, we’ve just seen A fleet of new gaming PCs presented at CESmany of which are based on previous 2024 devices and have allowed manufacturers to iterate faster than Nintendo’s nearly decade-long console cycles. So can Switch 2 repeat its victory lap in 2025 or not?
The first Switch era is coming to an end, will a new one begin?
During the first few years of the Nintendo Switch’s existence, there was no significant competition – other electronics manufacturers largely abandoned handheld gaming, leaving room for mobile gaming and a steady rotation of Nintendo DS consoles.
The Switch shattered the assumption that handheld consoles had fallen out of favor among the gaming public, demonstrating a huge appetite for gaming on the go, bolstered by modern display technology and a dash of Nintendo ingenuity (Home console? Portable? Why not both? ?).
However, success naturally breeds imitators. In 2022, we got Valve’s Steam Deck, a gaming PC that cost a little more than the main Switch but managed to capitalize on Nintendo’s popularization of portable gaming while offering a distinct way of working – carrying the PC gamer’s entire Steam library on the go.
The Steam Deck is pretty close to the Switch in many areas, including an equivalent 1280×800 resolution and a price that’s only slightly higher than the $350 Switch OLED (at least for the base Steam Deck model). However, it features access to the Steam library and a chunkier, ergonomic design that’s less geared towards children’s hands.
While Steam Deck 2 isn’t expected to release anytime soon (probably not until 2026 or later), Valve’s machine is still in high demand and is now surrounded by competitors. There is a wide range of portable gaming PCs running the Windows operating system, from the Asus ROG Ally X to the GPD Win 4, that offer all the benefits of a Windows desktop PC, with access to Steam, Epic Games, Xbox, GOG, and itch.io stored along with other applications and services.
And with AMD’s new Z2 chipset launching in 2025 for improved performance and longer battery life, these portable gaming PCs look better than ever to compete with the Switch’s successor.
Who is the competition?
The biggest story of new portable devices is Lenovo Legion Go Sa newer, lighter version of last year’s Legion Go that ditches the former’s detachable controllers in favor of an all-in-one design, doubles the RAM to 32GB, and features a 120Hz display.
The most interesting thing is that it comes Windows 11 and SteamOS configurationsThis means you can choose a third-party Steam Deck or the more mature Windows ecosystem. You’ll also be able to choose between models with the new Z2 Go chipset and the older Z1 processor, meaning a wide range of prices from $599 to $729 with all the different configurations included.
Also on the horizon this year is the next-generation Legion Go 2, featuring a new AMD Z2 Extreme processor and double the battery capacity, which is useful considering the Legion Go typically only lasts an hour or two between charges.
Elsewhere, Acer’s Nitro Blaze lineup expands with an 11-inch portable with a 2560×1600 120Hz display that should make the Switch’s screen look very skinny – even if it costs $1,199 and sounds like a literal handful. And the MSI Claw 8 AI+, an update to the MSI Claw, has a new Intel Lunar Lake chipset, an improved 80Wh battery, an 8-inch 120Hz display, an $899 price tag and a lot to prove after the harsh reception of the last model of the year.
I wouldn’t rule out the Asus ROG Ally line either. At $799, the ROG Ally X beats our rating. best portable gaming computer last year, thanks to a powerful 80Wh battery, 1TB of built-in storage, and stellar on-the-go performance. In our review, we said that “with more and faster memory and double the battery life of the original Ally, the Ally X will be able to run any modern game without running out of juice in an hour and a half.” There’s no official announcement about a 2025 successor, but Ally X could very well find an audience in 2025 or get a replacement later this year.
Which laptop will win 2025?
These enhanced Windows (and SteamOS) handhelds have some key advantages over the Switch 2. They largely bypass the sub-$400 market, leaving that easily won territory to Nintendo or less capable devices and focusing on more impressive specs.
Compared to the Switch ecosystem, you can generally expect more powerful processors, higher resolutions and frame rates, and an open Windows ecosystem that can access multiple game stores and therefore a greater variety of games. Even if you’re locked to SteamOS, only Steam has more than 70 thousand gamescompared to just a few thousand on the Nintendo Switch. So it’s worth remembering that the Switch, for all its charm and exclusives from its own developers, has a much smaller list of games available overall.
However, Windows 11 is not the ideal interface for a portable gaming PC, as it was never designed with that purpose in mind. There’s something about the focus and simplicity of Nintendo’s operating system that often draws people to a dedicated console.
The new Switch will likely lack the specs of many handheld devices released in 2025, without the raw power that more expensive processors provide and without targeting AAA PC gaming. But an improved handheld experience and some AI scaling to enhance its capabilities in docked mode should fill that gap to some extent. And given the company’s dominance in the sub-$400 market and the strength of the Nintendo Switch name, I don’t think any of these competitors will be able to significantly impact the success of the Switch 2 or come close to its sales numbers, and I’d consider the Switch 2 to be the best choice for most gamers in 2025.
For avid PC gamers or those with cash to spare that exceed $400, the Lenovo Legion Go S may be the best solution – especially with the SteamOS option for those who don’t want to worry about Windows 11’s suboptimal interface. Until we see official Steam Deck 2 is probably the best way to play your Steam library on the go.
For a Windows laptop, things get a little more complicated. I don’t have too high hopes for MSI’s latest laptop, and while Acer may have cornered the 11-inch portable market, it probably won’t suit most hands. I’d probably recommend the Windows version of the Legion Go S or stick with the Asus ROG Ally line.
A decade ago, the surge in handheld consoles would have seemed laughable, but the category has seen explosive growth and shows no signs of slowing down. There’s now a huge range of options, whether you’re looking for a portable Steam library, a Windows gaming laptop, or an enhanced Zelda machine. There will only be one real winner in 2025, and that’s handheld gamers.
Henry St. Leger is a freelance writer for IGN.