Lenovo Legion Go 2 Price Surges by $650 Amid RAM Crisis Impacting Gaming Hardware

Remember when the Legion Go 2 seemed pricey at $1,099? Those days are long gone—Best Buy is now listing Lenovo’s handheld at $1,499 for the Ryzen Z2 model and $1,999 for the Z2 Extreme. The latter was originally priced at $1,349, marking a staggering $650 increase in just six months.

This means Lenovo’s flagship could now cost nearly double that of the $999 Microsoft/Asus Xbox Ally X, which features the same AMD chip, and is on par with the more powerful GPD Win 5 that was available last year. Given the current trend, it’s likely only a matter of time before Microsoft raises the price of its handheld Xbox as well. For now, an Asus representative has indicated that there are “no price increases on the horizon, so far as I can tell,” at least in the US.

The Legion Go 2 does offer some appealing features beyond its processor, such as detachable controllers and an impressive display, but $2,000? That’s hard to swallow.

RAM prices are wreaking havoc across the gaming hardware landscape. Sony recently raised the PS5 price by $100 to $150, and in a related note, Ayaneo has scrapped its Next 2 model, which started at $1,999, due to unsustainable storage costs. GPD has also increased prices on its Strix Halo handhelds, but the Win 5 with 32GB of RAM, 2TB storage, and an AI Max Plus 395 chip is still available for $2,500—for now.

Retroid has discontinued the 12GB version of the Retroid Pocket 6 handheld due to rising RAM costs. Meanwhile, Valve has postponed its Steam Machine and Steam Frame, planning to reassess pricing because of RAM issues, although they still aim to release them this year. There are even whispers that the upcoming Switch 2 and PS6 might be impacted as well.

I long for the days when handhelds only saw a $100 price increase. Oh wait, that was just last year. Reports indicate that other Lenovo handhelds have also seen price hikes. Will the SteamOS version of the Lenovo Legion Go 2 even reach its suggested $1,199 price point? I’m not betting on it. Lenovo hasn’t responded to requests for comment.