However, Hiegl’s use of the word “never” during a talk at ISC 2026 has been reported as being an exaggeration, and the executive was apparently talking about the state of the hardware industry for the next five years.

Recent surges in memory pricing largely come down to the fact that the major companies that make memory, like SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron, have signed large deals with AI companies to fabricate components and sell directly to them. This has left the rest of the world that relies on computer hardware in the lurch, with even Apple recently having announced a price hike for several of its devices.

Interestingly, just as the memory shortages had started ramping up, Micron had announced that it was pulling out of the consumer market entirely, and essentially shuttered its consumer line-up of storage and memory components sold under the Crucial brand. More recently, Micron’s chief business officer, Sumit Sadana, blamed companies like Apple for the current situation due to their aggressive pricing practices when sourcing components. “A lot of the industry investments got shut down in 2023 because of really poor pricing and really poor margins,” said Sadana.

In the meantime, Microsoft recently announced that its Xbox Series X/S consoles will be getting another price hike. Kicking on from August 1st onwards, the Xbox Series S 512 GB model will be priced at $499.99, compared to its previous $399.99 price tag. The digital version of the Xbox Series X is going up from $599.99 to $749.99, while the disc drive version of the console is going up from $649.99 to $799.99. The Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black is being discontinued entirely.

“The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles,” said the company when it announced these latest price hikes. “Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are typically not sold at a profit, but instead for less than they cost to make.”

In an effort to soften the blow for potential customers, Microsoft is also introducing a “Buy Now, Pay Later” option that gives buyers the ability to purchase an Xbox console and pay it off in interest-free monthly instalments.

Valve recently also admitted to not quite having the bargaining power it needed to negotiate better prices for the Steam Machine’s components. Engineers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Yazan Aldehayyat spoke about how they “would love to be able to make the Steam Machine more affordable and reach more people.” However, they noted that a price drop isn’t likely to happen soon.

Nintendo isn’t immune to these market conditions either, with price hikes hitting the Switch 2 in August.

In terms of specs, the Lenovo Legion Go S will have a 120 Hz refresh rate screen and a resolution of 1920 x 1200. Under the hood, the Legion Go S will run off a 55 Wh battery. The internal specs will depend on whether you go with the Windows 11 version or the SteamOS version of the device. The Windows 11 version of the Legion Go S will have 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, along with a price tag of $729.99 when it hits store shelves later this month. The SteamOS version, slated for release in May, will feature 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage, and a price tag of $499.99.

There is also a second Windows 11 version with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage planned for release and priced at $599.99.

All variants of the Lenovo Legion Go S will run on one of AMD’s newer chips – the Ryzen Z2 Go. The chip, designed specially for handheld gaming devices, has four CPU cores, 12 GPU cores, and can boost up to clock speeds of 4.3 GHz. According to The Verge, Legion Go product manager Alex Zhu has stated that Lenovo is targeting a battery life of between two and two and a half hours when the Legion Go S runs heavier games.

Alongside the announcement of the Legion Go S, Valve also made an announcement of its own about SteamOS growing beyond the confines of the Steam Deck. According to Valve, the SteamOS version of the Legion Go S will feature all of the software features that the Steam Deck is known for, including pre-compiled shaders. The company has stated that it will be working with Lenovo to improve compatibility with other handhelds.

It is worth noting that, since SteamOS is based on Linux, the variant of the Legion Go S running on Valve’s operating system might face similar compatibility issues to the Steam Deck, where games with strict anti-cheat systems don’t work well. Among the major games that can’t be played on the Steam Deck, for example, is Destiny 2.

SteamOS itself will also be getting its own beta release shortly before the launch of the Legion Go S, allowing users to try the operating system out with other handhelds.

The Lenovo Legion Go features an 8.8-inch QHD+ display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The system runs on AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, and its graphics are powered by AMD’s RDNA technology. The Legion Go runs on Windows 11, and supports resolutions from 1600p to 800p, as well as refresh rates between 144Hz and 60Hz. In terms of memory, the system uses 16GB of LPDDR5X for RAM, and storage is handled by a 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD, and a microSD card slot with support for up to 2TB of extra storage.

Alongside the Legion Go, Lenovo also unveiled the Legion Glasses—a pair of AR glasses that run with compatible devices running on Windows, Android or macOS. The Legion Glasses act as a wearable virtual monitor, and offers a refresh rate of up to 60Hz.

Finally, Lenovo has also announced the Legion E510 7.1 RGB gaming in-ear headphones, which offer 7.1 surround sound.

The Lenovo Legion Go is priced at €799, and will be hitting store shelves in November 2023. The Legion Glasses are launch earlier, in October 2023, and are priced at €499, while the Legion E510 7.1 headphones are also slated to hit store shelves in October, priced at €49.99.

The Legion Go is slated to run on Windows 11 to ensure compatibility with as many PC games out there as possible. The system also reportedly runs on AMD’s new Phoenix line of processors—a line designed for gaming, AI and graphics for ultrabooks, according to AMD.

The Steam Deck has been quite successful for not only Valve, but also Linux gaming as a whole. The system has been seeing quite a bit of support from game developers, with the most recent PlayStation PC release, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, having been Steam Deck Verified at launch.

The Asus ROG Ally, on the other hand, has also seen some success since its launch back in May. The Asus system boasts high-performance specs, as well as a higher-resolution display, all running on Windows.

Sony have sent out a press release announcing that they’ve entered into a two-year licensing agreement with Lenovo for the design of the PlayStation VR headset, which Lenovo will be using for their of virtual reality headset, the Mirage Solo. The press release doesn’t go into any details about the agreement beyond that, and it’s unclear whether Sony could maybe extend licensing for their design to Lenovo for future headset models as well.

Sony Interactive Entertainment’s chief legal officer, Riley Russell, does mention that the agreement should help “the VR industry expand”, so that remains a possibility. “We are pleased to announce that we have licensed the PS VR headset design to Lenovo,” said Russell. “The industrial design for PS VR has been widely acclaimed, and that was the result of years of hard work by PlayStation engineers.  This agreement with Lenovo is a testament to the quality of PS VR’s design, as well as SIE’s commitment to creating great virtual reality experiences and helping the VR industry expand.”

Lenovo’s Yao Li, vice president of Lenovo Consumer Tablets and Smart Devices Product and Business Management, gave a similar statement, talking about the “preeminence” of the PS VR design, and saying that the agreement between the two parties shows that consumer brands can come together to work to help the budding VR industry grow.

“Lenovo is pleased to partner with Sony,” Li said. “The preeminence of the PS VR design is obvious.  This agreement will allow us to work together to greatly enhance the design sophistication and appeal of the rapidly expanding VR field, and is an outstanding example of how great consumer brands in the VR industry can work together to benefit the consumer VR market.”

To their credit, Sony have been making strong efforts to realize the potential of virtual reality. For instance, the recently released VR platformer Astro Bot Rescue Mission has received high praise from critics across the boards, and should hopefully pave the way for similar experiences in the not-too-distant future.

The VR space is about to get a whole lot ore crowded. Currently, there are only three VR headsets worth anything in the market- the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive, and the PlayStation VR. Of these, the former two are extremely expensive (they cost $599 and $799 respectively), and require extremely high end gaming PCs to even work properly.

But starting next year, true, mainstream accessible high end VR may be coming. At their Surface keynote yesterday, Microsoft confirmed that third party partners like Acer, Lenovo, Dell, HP, and Asus would be launching next year. According to Microsoft, these headsets will also feature inside-out tracking, a technical term for being able to track movement in space without desk- or wall-mounted sensors- which is something that no other headset on the market currently has (the Vive, for instance, requires you to set up the Lighthouse, while the PlayStation VR depends on the PlayStation Camera).

Equally importantly, it also sounds like these headsets may be self sufficient. It seems like you’d be able to just wear these sets and not have to set anything else up, unlike on any existing VR headset. And the killer? These sets could start out for as low as $299. That means that more than even the PlayStation VR, these headsets could induce mass market adoption of VR.