Android Handhelds Reach Your Steam Games by Streaming

Nothing Valve or these makers offer runs your Steam or Windows library on an Android handheld itself: it plays Android games, and it reaches PC games by streaming them, from a PC you own or from a cloud service. Valve’s Android apps are a store, a chat app and Steam Link, which “connects your device to any computer that’s running Steam”.

So the useful question before buying is where your games will run, not which chip is fastest. If the answer is “on my gaming PC” or “in the cloud”, an Android handheld at $244 to $369 can be a screen and controller for them. If it is “on the handheld, with nothing else switched on”, that is what the Steam Deck and Windows handhelds are for.

Three ways a game reaches an Android handheld

Route	What it plays	What it needs
On the device	Android games	An Android handheld; nothing else
Steam Link, from Valve	Your Steam library, running on your own computer	A computer running Steam, switched on; Android 5.0 or later
Xbox Cloud Gaming	Game Pass cloud titles, and select games you own	Game Pass, with monthly hour limits from November; Android 12 or later on phones and tablets; 7 Mbps
GeForce Now, from Nvidia	Supported games you own on PC stores, Steam included	A GeForce Now membership; Android 7.0 or later; 15 Mbps for 720p at 60fps

Steam Link is the route to your own library, and it has a condition people miss: the game runs on your computer, which must be on and running Steam. The handheld sends your button presses and shows the picture. Valve pitches it for play “on the couch, or on the go”.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is changing in November. Microsoft announced on 3 September that Game Pass plans will include a set number of cloud hours a month: 15 on Ultimate, 10 on Premium, 5 on Essential. Extra hours will be sold through the Xbox Store, and from November players without Game Pass will be able to buy hours to stream eligible games they own. Microsoft says it will publish prices before the change. Xbox Support’s Android page asks for Android 12 or later, and warns that “modified, alternate, or emulated versions of Android OS” are “still being evaluated”. Its handheld page names the Logitech G Cloud as supported, and says the list is not exhaustive.

GeForce Now runs PC games you already own on Nvidia’s servers. You link store accounts such as Steam, Epic and GOG, and play the titles Nvidia supports. Its premium members can also install Steam games whose publishers have opted in to Steam Cloud Gaming. Nvidia lists 1440p and 120fps on Android for Ultimate members only, and asks for under 80ms of latency to one of its data centres.

What runs on the device

Android games. The makers’ own pages say no more than that. AYN, Retroid and Anbernic list the Android version and the chip; none of their four product pages we read mentions Windows, Steam or PC games. Logitech’s G Cloud page offers “thousands of games from the Google Play Store” and lists Google Mobile Services; the others do not say whether Google Play is installed.

Valve makes no Steam client for Android that runs games. Its Steam Mobile app is for browsing, in Valve’s words, “the Steam catalog of Windows, Mac, and Linux titles from your phone”, which is buying, not playing. Third-party apps that try to run Windows games on Android exist; neither Valve nor these makers offer one on the pages we read, and we have not assessed them.

On paper, against the Steam Deck

Device	OS (as listed)	Chip	Screen	Base RAM / storage	Battery	US list price, 8 Oct
Retroid Pocket 6	Android 13	8 Gen 2, Adreno 740 GPU	5.5in AMOLED, 1080p, 120Hz	8GB / 128GB	6,000mAh	$244
Anbernic RG 477M (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)	Android 14	MediaTek Dimensity 8300	4.7in LTPS, 1280 × 960, 120Hz	8GB / 128GB	5,300mAh	$279.99
Logitech G Cloud	Android 11	Snapdragon 720G	7in IPS, 1920 × 1080, 60Hz	Not listed / 64GB	23.1Wh	$299.99
AYN Thor (Base)	Android 13	Qualcomm 8 Gen 2	6in AMOLED, full HD, plus 3.92in AMOLED	8GB / 128GB	6,000mAh	$329
AYN Odin 3 (Base)	Android 15	Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8	6in AMOLED, full HD, 120Hz	8GB / 128GB	8,000mAh	$369
Steam Deck OLED	SteamOS	6nm AMD APU (Zen 2)	7.4in HDR OLED, 1280 × 800, up to 90Hz	16GB / 512GB	50Whr	$789

Prices are each maker’s US store, read 8 October 2026. Anbernic showed the RG 477M at $264.99 on sale; Logitech showed the G Cloud at $199.99 on sale, with the white model marked not available. AYN lists both its models as pre-orders, and its Thor Lite uses an older Snapdragon 865 for $259. Retroid’s 12GB Pocket 6 is $279 and keeps 128GB of storage, which the store’s own note points out.

Two things the table cannot tell you. Battery figures do not compare across rows: the Android makers give milliamp-hours and Valve and Logitech give watt-hours, and none of the Android makers publishes the cell voltage needed to convert. And no maker here publishes game frame rates, so the chips say nothing about how well a given game runs. Why handheld battery life runs short covers the power side.

The G Cloud is the odd one: Logitech sells it as a cloud machine, and its Android 11 is older than the Android 12 Xbox Support asks of phones and tablets, although Xbox names it as a supported handheld.

Where Windows handhelds and the Steam Deck differ

Both run PC games on the device, with nothing else switched on. Asus’s ROG Xbox Ally X lists Windows 11 Home, so PC launchers install as they would on a Windows laptop. The Steam Deck runs SteamOS, and Valve says your Steam library appears when you sign in, with a compatibility rating per game. How the leading PC handhelds compare on published review scores has its own page.

The trade is the price. The cheapest Steam Deck OLED is $789 at Valve; the Android handhelds here list at $244 to $369 and lean on a PC or a subscription for PC games.

Who each one suits

• You own a gaming PC and play at home: an Android handheld with Steam Link uses the PC you already have. It needs that PC on.
• You subscribe to Game Pass: cloud play works on Android, but plan around the monthly hours from November.
• You want your Steam library with no PC and no subscription: that is what a Steam Deck or a Windows handheld is built for.
• You mostly play Android games: this is what these handhelds run natively, with physical controls a phone lacks.

Questions people ask

Can an Android handheld play Steam games?

Not through anything Valve offers. Valve’s Android apps are a store, a chat app and Steam Link, which streams games from your own computer running Steam. GeForce Now can also stream supported Steam games you own from Nvidia’s servers.

Can the AYN Thor or Odin 3 run Windows games?

AYN does not claim it. Both product pages list Android (13 on the Thor, 15 on the Odin 3) and Qualcomm chips, and neither mentions Windows, Steam or PC games. PC games reach them by streaming.

Does Steam Link work on an Android gaming handheld?

Valve lists Steam Link for Android 5.0 and later, and all five Android handhelds here run a newer one. It needs a computer running Steam to be switched on; the game runs on that computer and the handheld shows it.

Does Xbox Cloud Gaming work on Android handhelds?

On Android phones and tablets Xbox asks for Android 12 or later and 7 Mbps. It names the Logitech G Cloud as a supported handheld. From November, Game Pass plans get 5 to 15 cloud hours a month.

Is an Android handheld better than a Steam Deck?

They do different jobs. The Steam Deck OLED, $789 at Valve, runs your Steam library on the device. The Android handhelds here, $244 to $369, run Android games and stream PC ones. We have not tested any of them.

Which Android handheld has the best specs?

On paper, the AYN Odin 3 lists the newest Android, 15, and an 8,000mAh battery, the largest of those quoted in milliamp-hours, from $369. The Retroid Pocket 6 lists the same 8 Gen 2 chip as the AYN Thor Base for $244. No maker here publishes game frame rates.