Tariffs and gaming handhelds: Should I buy a Steam Deck, ROG Ally, or even a Nintendo Switch right now?

If you were already planning on buying a gaming handheld, it might be a good idea to buy one quickly before tariffs cause prices to go up at U.S. retailers.

Another way to think of it is that the prices of Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and Nintendo Switch devices aren't likely to go down under the current tariff situation, but they are likely to go up.

That all said, I never want to encourage panic purchases or reckless spending, so I'm not trying to tell everyone to buy a handheld right now, unless you're already considering it.

If the high tariffs imposed on China remain high for a while, then we can expect all gaming handheld prices to eventually be affected.

That said, popular gaming handhelds that have already saturated the U.S. market will likely be easier to find at normal prices for longer stretches until companies are required to import more stock under the high tariffs.

This being the case, it's possible that the first-gen Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ASUS ROG Ally handhelds could retain normal prices the longest since they can already be found at so many U.S. retailers.

Meanwhile, new devices that don't have as much volume in the U.S, like Nintendo Switch 2, MSI Claw 8 AI+, and Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS), could be harder to find at reasonable prices.

But we'll have to wait and see what happens.

The Trump Administration has placed high tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. from other countries.

China is one of the largest manufacturers of tech goods, including gaming handhelds like Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and more.

On April 9, 2025, Trump's extremely high 104% tariff on China went into effect. In response, China put an 84% tariff on U.S. goods. Trump then retaliated with a 125% tariff. This will likely continue to change in the coming days.

Tariffs are basically taxes that companies have to pay for their imports.

Oftentimes, a company will have a customer pay the tariff price as well as the price of the product to make importing the product worthwhile.

As such, higher tariffs on a product often lead to increased prices for that product at retailers.

It's also important to remember that gaming handhelds are made up of components that are produced in different places.

Most significantly, handheld processors and display technology might have additional tariffs or manufacturing challenges that increase tech costs.

It's hard to know for sure how long these high tariffs will remain in place.

So far, the situation has been rather volatile, with the Trump Administration making big changes every few days, sometimes in reaction to the responses of other countries.

As such, it's possible these high tariffs could get lowered any day, but it's also possible that they could remain high for several months. Fluctuations are expected.

That's a very difficult question to answer and largely depends on how the current trade war plays out.

If the U.S. is able to come to an agreement with different countries and reduce tariffs, it's possible that the price of goods coming from those countries could go down.

As such, we could go back to relatively normal pricing really soon, or it could take months.

Tariffs are basically taxes that countries put on imported goods. Typically, the higher the tariff, the more expensive goods get.

Let's use the 125% tariff the U.S. imposed on China on April 8, 2025, as an example.

The Steam Deck is mostly produced in China, so under the 125% tariff, a company bringing in the $399.00 Steam Deck LCD configuration would have to pay $498.75 for the tariff on this handheld.

Add the Steam Deck price and the tariff cost together, and the cheapest Steam Deck LCD configuration now costs $897.75, which is obviously much more expensive than the initial $399.00 price.

To make up the expensive tariff costs, U.S. retailers could increase the price of the Steam Deck LCD to as much as $900, in this example.