Lenovo is Giving Up on Handhelds (But You Don't Have To)

Lenovo Legion Go prices are out of control, making what were once an incredible set of handhelds feel like a distant dream for most people. Luckily we still have other options.

My Go-To Recommendation Just Got a Lot More Complicated

When the Legion Go S launched in 2025, it hit a sweet spot that very few handhelds manage: great performance, genuine comfort, and a price that actually made sense. The £699 I paid for my Z1 Extreme SteamOS model stung a little at the time, but it quickly became my daily driver and the device I recommended to almost everyone. Unfortunately, Lenovo are now making that very hard.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Let’s look at what’s actually happened to the pricing. Here in the UK, that same Legion Go S I bought for £699 now costs £899 — a 1.2x increase in just over six months. But the situation in the US is significantly worse. The same model has nearly doubled, going from $829.99 at launch to $1,579.99. And if you want the Legion Go 2 with the Z2 Extreme and 1 TB of storage, that’ll be $2,000. Worth noting, too, that UK prices include VAT — so what you see is what you pay. In the US, sales tax is added on top, which means these devices are even more expensive than the listing price suggests.

It’s tempting to chalk this up to a broader industry problem, and to an extent that’s fair. AYN revised the specs of the Thor to keep it affordable. Retroid had to halt some configurations of the Pocket 6. AYANEO have had to deprecate entire models because they can no longer guarantee parts availability. Tariffs and component costs are affecting everyone. But there’s a meaningful difference between a scrappy Kickstarter-funded outfit struggling with supply chains and a company the size of Lenovo deciding to nearly double the price of a handheld in six months. The scale of these rises, on Lenovo’s part, doesn’t feel like necessity. It feels like a decision.

Cooling Off on Their Customers

Price isn’t the only issue. Actually getting hold of a Legion Go S or Legion Go 2 has been difficult since launch, with staggered regional releases and a fair few reported problems around pre-orders and deliveries. Driver updates for the original Legion Go have been sporadic enough to make people genuinely nervous about long-term support — though it’s only fair to note that an update did drop in the final week of April.

Lenovo have also gone quiet on the Legion Go 2’s SteamOS launch, which is supposed to happen in June. That’s barely a month away at the time of writing. Are they still finalising the price? Have they quietly shelved it? It’s hard not to wonder whether the price rises are actually a way of kicking the can down the road — keeping hardware on shelves without having to invest in developing anything new. With the broader chip shortage showing no signs of a quick resolution, that logic, as cynical as it is, would at least make a kind of sense.

The Handheld Space Isn’t Dead — Just Reconfiguring

Here’s where I try to stay optimistic, because I genuinely think there are reasons to be.

The Steam Deck is, once again, the most sensible place to put your money if you want a PC handheld. Valve are dealing with their own availability issues right now due to RAM shortages, but the crucial thing is that they’re still deeply committed to the platform — regular SteamOS updates, ongoing open-source contributions including work on Wine, and the quiet expansion of the Steam ecosystem with things like the new Steam Controller and Steam Machine hints. Valve aren’t going anywhere.

Meanwhile, Android handheld gaming has genuinely come on. Devices from Retroid and AYN can now run a substantial chunk of PC titles through platforms like GameHub and Game Native, and the results are increasingly impressive. I’ve been playing Yakuza 4 Remastered on my Retroid Pocket 6 via GameHub and it runs at a solid 30fps. It’s not going to replace a dedicated PC handheld for the most demanding titles, but for most people’s libraries — mine included — it covers far more ground than it did even a year ago.

When you can pick up just shy of ten Retroid Pockets for the price of a single Legion Go 2, Lenovo’s positioning starts to look genuinely out of touch.

Where This Leaves Us

I’m not ready to write Lenovo off entirely. The Legion Go S proved that they know how to build a great handheld, and I hope they find their way back to doing that at a price people can actually justify.

If you’re in the market for a handheld today, my honest advice is to look at the second-hand market — a used Steam Deck or Legion Go S at a sensible price is a much better proposition than either of Lenovo’s current new listings. And if your game library skews towards older or less demanding titles, seriously consider an Android handheld; the gap between those devices and a PC handheld is narrowing faster than most people realise.

Time will tell how the industry navigates the next couple of years. Maybe we’ve been living through a golden age of handheld hardware. I really do hope that Lenovo and others find a way through it and come out the other side building great things at sensible prices again. But in the meantime, we’ve got options. You don’t have to wait for them to figure it out.