Logitech and Tencent's first cloud gaming handheld could arrive later this year running Windows

The popularity of PC handheld gaming has been on the rise of late, well before the release of the Steam Deck. Aided by the improvement in the performance that integrated iGPUs can now provide, there are now numerous options from AYA NEO, Ayn Technologies, GPD and One-netbook, to name but a few. Now, Logitech and Tencent have announced that they will soon enter the handheld gaming market.

In a press release, Logitech frames the collaboration as a 'partnership to bring a cloud gaming handheld to market', a feature that all other gaming handhelds offer in one form or another. However, this implies that Logitech and Tencent's effort will not be as powerful as the Steam Deck, which relies on a custom AMD Ryzen APU with Zen 2 CPU cores and an RDNA 2-based iGPU.

Logitech adds that the handheld will support 'multiple cloud gaming services', including NVIDIA GeForce NOW and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Supposedly, Logitech and Tencent are 'working with' both gaming services to maximise the 'quality of experience' and the 'exciting promise of gaming from the cloud'.

While Logitech has not provided many other details about the device yet, you can sign up for more information on a dedicated website. Meanwhile, the announcement comes some six months after a Redditor discovered a patent filing for a gaming handheld that Tencent filed in 2020. Fundamentally, the design resembles many gaming handhelds, including the ONEXPLAYER series. It remains to be seen whether this will be Logitech and Tencent's final design, but we would not be surprised if retail units also run Windows, as the Windows icon confirms is the case with this prototype.

Purchase the Logitech G502 HERO gaming mouse on Amazon