"It will be a tough year for us and for the gamer."
That's MSI product marketing lead Andy Chu speaking plainly about where the handheld PC market sits right now, and the quote lands harder when you see the price tag attached to the device he's talking about. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ has now been listed on MSI's official store at $1,799, a number that clears the $1,500 estimates that circulated when the device was first announced last month by a significant margin.
What $1,800 actually buys you
For that price, you get an Intel Arc G3 Extreme CPU, Intel Arc B390 graphics, 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an 8-inch IPS touchscreen. On paper, the specs justify positioning this well above a Steam Deck or a Nintendo Switch 2. The question is whether the gaming audience that shops for handhelds has a $1,800 ceiling, and right now that answer is far from obvious.
Chu was direct about how MSI arrived at this number. "All I can say is we have tried every approach to get the memory and also storage at a lower cost," he said. "Like, deepen the relationship between us and also those suppliers, to have some deals... and I think we have done everything we can do to make our system as affordable as possible. But unfortunately, I think the situation, the result is what you see right here."
Here's the thing: that kind of candor from a hardware exec is rare, and it signals that MSI isn't padding margins here. Component costs are genuinely brutal right now, and the Claw 8 EX AI+ is the most visible proof of that in the handheld space.
A market that's quietly shifted upward
The broader context makes the $1,799 price sting a little less in isolation, even if it still stings plenty in practice. Valve raised Steam Deck prices sharply last month, with the 512GB OLED model jumping from $549 to $789 and the 1TB version climbing from $649 to $949. That's a 40-plus percent increase on hardware that's now four years old.
Sony has raised PS5 prices by at least $100 across its lineup, with the PS5 Pro now retailing at $900. Microsoft has bumped Xbox Series X pricing twice, landing the standard model at $649.99, up $150 from launch. Nintendo has the Switch 2 at $449 with another price increase scheduled for September 1.
Every major platform holder has moved in the same direction. The handheld gaming market that once had a clear, approachable entry point around $300 to $400 no longer exists in the same form.
Chu acknowledged this shift directly, framing it as an opportunity to reconsider what a handheld can actually do. "Maybe in the past, Steam Deck was really approachable in terms of the price, so maybe I didn't need to think too much while getting one," he said. "But as you can see, Steam Deck also costs a lot right now. So I say it's good timing to take a look at what kind of true potential or capability this new handheld can provide."
If you want to see how the Claw 8 EX AI+ performs with demanding titles, our ROG Xbox Ally X settings guide for ChainStaff gives a solid sense of what tuning a high-end handheld looks like in practice.
Where the handheld market goes from here
The $1,799 price point effectively sorts the handheld market into two distinct tiers. Budget-to-mid options like the Steam Deck (now expensive in its own right) sit on one side. High-performance Windows handhelds like the Claw 8 EX AI+ sit on the other, targeting players who want a genuine PC gaming experience in portable form and are willing to pay for it.
What most players miss is that this isn't just MSI's problem. The entire hardware supply chain is pushing costs upward, and no manufacturer is immune. The question for the rest of 2026 is whether demand holds at these price points or whether the handheld market contracts to a much smaller, wealthier audience.
For now, the Claw 8 EX AI+ is available on MSI's store. If you're looking for more coverage across the gaming hardware space, our gaming guides hub has ongoing coverage of settings, optimization, and what's worth your money right now. And if you want a broader look at what's shipping this season, our Marvel Rivals Season 8 breakdown is a good read while you decide whether to drop $1,800 on a new handheld.
