Computex 2026 was held in Taipei, Taiwan last week and while AI was (expectedly) everywhere, another strong trend that was in focus was handheld gaming. Asus, MSI, and Acer unveiled new handheld gaming devices that attempt to put a mini PC right inside users’ hands. And the most attention-grabbing announcement came from Intel, which unveiled a series of new chipsets designed specifically for handhelds. And one of the first devices being powered by that chip is the MSI Claw.
We spoke to MSI’s Regional Marketing Manager of South Asia, Bruce Lin. The conversation revolved around handhelds, gaming as an industry, the challenges preventing handhelds from becoming mainstream, and so on. Here are the excerpts from the conversation.
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Now brands are all about gaming handhelds, but are consumers actually interested in buying them? When we posed this question to Lin, he smiled and answered with enthusiasm, ‘To be very honest, gaming handhelds are still a niche market in India today, but we are seeing immense growth’. He then added that the response to MSI’s Claw lineup has been “very positive.”
According to Lin, one of the biggest surprises has been changing consumer preferences. While handhelds have traditionally focused on portability, gamers are willing to trade a slightly larger form factor for a bigger display.
“Consumers are no longer only looking for smaller devices. They are also interested in larger screens, even on handhelds,” he said.
This trend is reflected in the performance of the MSI Claw 8. Lin said that the larger handheld, powered by Intel’s Lunar Lake processor, has seen growth comparable to 7-inch handheld devices, despite its bigger footprint.
For MSI, this points to a broader shift in how users view handheld gaming PCs.
“This shows that people are not willing to compromise on performance, even in a handheld form factor,” Lin said.
The company is therefore positioning handhelds as more than just gaming devices. Lin believes products like the Claw can double up as mini PCs capable of handling productivity tasks, AI workloads and even content creation.
‘We’ve collaborated with influencers, YouTubers, and content creators who have edited 4K videos on a gaming handheld,’ he said before smiling and adding, ‘That’s pretty amazing.’
This is also one of the reasons MSI continues to bring its latest processor technologies, including Intel’s upcoming Panther Lake Core Ultra Series 3 chips, to the handheld category.
Now handheld gaming devices are surely exciting. But we still very rarely see someone owning one. And according to Lin, pricing is the biggest challenge here stopping handhelds from becoming mainstream devices.
‘I would say pricing is definitely one of the biggest challenges. When you’re bringing advanced technology into a much smaller chassis, costs naturally increase,’ he said.
At the same time, he added that gaming handhelds are not replacing traditional laptops anytime soon because they serve different user behaviours. For example, professionals may still prefer a content creation laptop or business laptop for their primary work.
But, there are people who travel frequently and also enjoy gaming. For them, a handheld can be an excellent alternative, Lin said.
‘It is easy to carry while travelling, allows gaming on the go, and can also handle productivity tasks when needed. Users can connect to their existing profiles and continue working seamlessly.’
Now handhelds enable people to play their favourite games on the move. But, so do laptops. So how do these two categories coexist? Lin believes that these two will continue to serve very different use cases.
‘Laptops remain the all-rounder device, whether you’re a gamer, a business user, or a content creator. Today, people don’t define themselves by a single role. Most users have multiple responsibilities and interests.
‘Because of that, laptops continue to evolve. Previously, they were positioned around gaming, business, or content creation. Now, with generative AI becoming more important, laptops are increasingly being viewed as personal AI assistants.
‘Gaming handhelds, meanwhile, remain focused on gaming-first experiences. They can also support content creation and productivity software when required, but gaming remains their primary purpose.’
Now MSI has built several gaming laptops over the years and has carved a niche for itself in the industry. It is only natural to wonder whether the company had applied any lessons from laptops to its handheld gaming devices.
According to Lin, the answer is a clear yes.
‘One of MSI’s biggest strengths in gaming laptops has always been delivering the latest technology with high levels of performance,’ he said. ‘We’ve brought that same philosophy to gaming handhelds.’
However, squeezing high-performance hardware into a much smaller device comes with its own set of challenges, particularly when it comes to cooling.
‘Performance also comes with the responsibility of managing thermal efficiency,’ Lin explained and added that cooling has always been “one of their strengths”.
He also pointed to the first-generation MSI Claw as an example, claiming that the company was able to achieve “around 15 to 20 percent better cooling efficiency than competing devices” through its airflow design and additional fan implementation.
Beyond cooling, battery life was another area where MSI leveraged its experience from the laptop business.
‘Battery life is another critical factor for portable devices,’ Lin said. ‘With the first generation Claw, we were able to deliver up to 1.5 hours longer battery life compared to competing products.’
So for Lin, the transition from gaming laptops to handhelds was less about starting from scratch and more about adapting existing expertise to a new form factor.
Now if there was one theme that dominated conversations across Computex 2026, it was, as one would expect in these days, AI. From next-generation processors and graphics cards to software tools and productivity applications, nearly every major announcement had some form of AI woven into it. So when we asked Lin to identify the technology trend that will define gaming hardware over the next three years, his answer was the same.
‘I would say AI,’ he said in the blink of an eye.
Lin pointed to MSI’s long-standing partnership with BlueStacks as one example of how artificial intelligence is beginning to influence gaming experiences. The collaboration originally resulted in MSI App Player, which allows users to run mobile games and applications on PCs.
Now, the partnership is evolving in a new direction.
‘Today, we are also working with BlueStacks on AI-powered gaming experiences,’ Lin said.
According to him, AI is increasingly capable of assisting players inside games, and in some scenarios can even take over certain tasks.
‘In some cases, AI can play games on behalf of users and even help achieve objectives or break records. It’s definitely something new.’
However, Lin believes AI’s impact extends far beyond gameplay assistance. He sees it becoming a core part of gaming hardware itself, whether through cloud-based technologies, Nvidia’s DLSS platform, or dedicated AI engines built directly into modern processors.
And as AI capabilities continue to expand across both software and hardware, Lin believes the technology will fundamentally reshape the gaming experience in the years ahead.
‘Whether it’s cloud computing or on-device AI processing, these technologies are fundamentally changing the rules of gaming hardware,’ he said.
So even though gaming handhelds are still a niche category today, companies like MSI clearly see them becoming much more than portable gaming machines. Throughout our conversation, Lin repeatedly highlighted a future where handhelds blur the lines between gaming devices, laptops and even mini PCs. However, challenges such as pricing and consumer awareness still stand in the way of mass adoption.
What is clear, though, is that manufacturers are betting heavily on the category. With more powerful processors, larger displays and AI-driven features making their way into handhelds, these devices are slowly doing much more than what they were initially built for. And that’s quite fascinating, right?
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