Why the ROG Xbox Ally skips OLED—and why that's probably a good thing

The newly announced ROG Xbox Ally handheld has a lot going for it. But there’s one thing fans keep asking about: Where’s the OLED screen? Turns out, the decision to stick with LCD was very intentional.

VRR was non-negotiable

In an interview spotted by WCCFTech, ASUS ROG’s Whitson Gordon explained the trade-off pretty clearly. While the team experimented with OLED prototypes, the technology still isn’t quite right, especially when Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) is involved.

“We did look at OLED again this year, we did some R&D and prototyping with OLED, but it’s still not where we want it to be when we factor VRR into the mix. And we aren’t willing to give up VRR, I’ll draw that line in the sand right now,” Gordon said.

He added that, in 2025, any display without VRR “is not a gaming display.” That’s a bold take, but one that reflects how critical smooth frame syncing is for handheld performance. OLED with VRR, as it stands, draws “significantly more power” than the Ally’s current LCD setup, which would hurt battery life and drive up costs. Neither was acceptable to the team.

Battery, power, and software come first

According to Gordon, the Ally team prioritized what players actually want: “They want battery life, they want more performance, and they want a better software experience. Those are by far the biggest pieces of feedback…” So that’s where the engineering effort went.

Even if OLED would look better on paper, the trade-offs just didn’t add up. For now, VRR takes the win, and most players probably won’t miss OLED when the games run smoother and last longer.