Lenovo's new handheld will smush together our favorite bits of the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch
Leaked images of the Legion Go shows it will have detachable gamepads and perhaps a larger screen than its portable rivals.
Some leaked images obtained by Windows Report show Lenovo's upcoming handheld gaming PC, the Legion Go, is taking some heavy design influences from the Nintendo Switch, featuring detachable gamepads and a sizable display.
We first heard that Lenovo was reportedly reviving plans for a handheld PC a few weeks ago. The speculation is it will be a Windows 11-based system, much like the Asus ROG Ally or the recent (and unfortunately named) OneXPlayer OneXFly, potentially packing an AMD Phoenix processor. That will either be the Z1 Extreme or the Ryzen 7 7840U.
Obviously, the first thing that stands out in these Legion Go images is the detachable Switch-like gamepads. There's even a small touchpad on the right gamepad for mouse controls. There's also a kickstand, which makes sense if the gamepads are detachable; you'll need a way to prop it up when using a controller.
The screen looks big, around eight inches, and it could/should be a touch-screen, too. You can also spot smaller details from the images: two USB Type-C ports, a headphone jack, and volume controls at the top. Fingers crossed at least one of those will be a USB4 port.
Windows Report says it spotted a micro-SD Slot, but it's tough to distinguish from the images. There's a large air vent on the back of the unit, which presumably will provide better airflow to the handheld than some of the other super-heated solutions, such as the one melting SD cards.
Various key details concerning Lenovo's Steam Deck rival remain elusive, like display resolution, memory, storage, or Bluetooth connectivity. I would like to know if it comes with its own game launcher like the ROG Ally or what the battery life on this thing will be.
We saw prototypes of a canceled Lenovo Legio Play, an Android-based handheld, on sale in China earlier this year in the hands of a YouTuber. Considering how super niche cloud-gaming handhelds like the Logitech G Cloud are, I can see why it might have decided to can the original project.
Lenovo told PC Gamer when asked about the leaked images that it doesn't "comment on rumors or speculation and have nothing to share on this now." But I doubt it will be long before we get to see just how accurate these early leaks are.