A high-end SteamOS handheld

The handheld war escalated in 2026, and it now has a premium tier. Lenovo revealed a SteamOS version of the Legion Go 2 at CES 2026 and brought it to market in June at $1,199. Rather than shipping Windows, it runs Valve's SteamOS, positioning it as a more powerful alternative to Valve's own Steam Deck while sidestepping the desktop-OS clutter that has dogged Windows handhelds.

That price is the headline. At $1,199, the Legion Go 2 is not chasing the value crowd; it is aiming at enthusiasts who want a big-screen, high-performance portable and prefer the console-like SteamOS experience.

The three-way fight

The competitive picture has never been more crowded. The landscape now splits along operating-system lines:

SteamOS — Valve's Steam Deck and now Lenovo's Legion Go 2 Steam Edition.
Windows / Xbox full-screen experience — the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X, built with ASUS and launched in October 2025 at $599.99 and $999.99.
The premium squeeze — the 2026 memory shortage pushing high-end handhelds past the $1,000 mark.

For reference, the Ally X pairs an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme with 24GB of LPDDR5X, a 1TB SSD, and a 7-inch 1080p 120Hz display, while the base Ally uses a Ryzen Z2 A with 16GB of RAM.

Why SteamOS matters here

SteamOS has become the differentiator. It boots straight into a gaming-first interface, handles suspend and resume gracefully, and avoids the awkward touch-target problems of running full Windows on a small screen. By licensing it for a premium device, Lenovo is betting that buyers will pay for horsepower without inheriting Windows headaches.

The open question is value. At $1,199, the Legion Go 2 competes not just with other handhelds but with capable gaming laptops. Its appeal rests on portability and the polish of SteamOS, and on how far the memory-driven price inflation squeezing the whole category ends up pushing the rest of the field. Confirm the final APU and display specs before buying, as some details were still settling at launch.