For Lenovo, gamers are rich: Legion Go 2 nearly doubles in price

A few months after its market release, Lenovo has already updated the prices of its new handheld PC, Legion Go 2. Naturally, the list price has been raised, but the increases are far from contained; in fact, prices have nearly doubled.

The device, introduced last year with an initial price of $1,049 for the 1 TB version with AMD Ryzen Z2 APU, now hovers around $1,500. The variant with the Z2 Extreme chip, initially proposed at $1,350, now costs about $2,000.

The most noticeable data concerns the 2 TB model. At launch, it was priced around $1,480, while currently, the official price on the Lenovo website rises to $2,849. This represents an increase close to doubling within a few months. In Italy, prices now start at €1,799.

Among the causes are the increasing demand for semiconductors related to artificial intelligence and some geopolitical issues that have affected production lines. However, the new positioning of the Legion Go 2 raises several questions, especially in light of its hardware specifications.

The device remains based on AMD Ryzen Z2 and Z2 Extreme APUs, valid solutions but not aligned with the more advanced offerings available today in the same price range. At similar figures, the market offers alternatives with more recent architectures and superior performance levels.

It should be noted that the Ryzen Z2 and Z2 Extreme enjoy specific optimization for this type of device, even if Lenovo has been rather "comfortable" with the release of updates. Nonetheless, there are definitely more powerful alternatives at similar or even lower prices, and one doesn't have to venture far geographically, as such alternatives are widely available in Lenovo's home country, China.

A concrete example is the OneXPlayer Apex, a console that has appeared multiple times on our pages. In the top configuration, with Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 64 GB of RAM, and a 2 TB SSD, it costs $2,799. Certainly, the battery life is sacrificed, but the company offers a system of interchangeable batteries with dedicated charging dock that provides virtually infinite autonomy. Temperatures will certainly be higher, but one achieves a significantly higher level of performance compared to the Z2 Extreme.

If we want to make a comparison with other established brands, we could consider the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X, also with the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, which with its 32 GB of memory and 1 TB SSD is offered below $1,000 compared to Legion Go 2's $1,500.

According to some observers, the reasoning behind Lenovo's decision may not simply be market trends, but a specific goal. It seems that the handheld segment has eroded the market share of Legion laptops rather than expanding the user base, prompting the company to more clearly separate the two markets.

In any case, it is evident that this type of strategy will not be sustainable in the long term. The sector of consoles based on Windows 11 is already quite crowded, and such an imbalanced relationship between price and performance risks directing customers toward one of the many alternatives available on the market.