Lenovo Legion Play: Everything you need to know

Mobile gaming has become a hot topic recently, thanks mainly to the arrival of the Nintendo Switch which seemed to reignite interest in dedicated hardware you can take anywhere. Now, other manufacturers are getting in on the action, with leaks revealing that Lenovo intends to add to its Legion gaming line of devices with a new Android powered handset.

Here’s all we know so far about the Lenovo Legion Play. 

When will the Lenovo Legion Play be released?

Lenovo has yet to announce any launch date for the Legion Play or indeed that it exists at all, but we’ve seen several rumours that suggest it could be imminent. Sites such as Gadgets Now (from The Times of India) had expected it to arrive on 31 December 2021, but obviously this has been and gone. 

Another prospective date was during Mobile World Congress at the end of February 2022, but while Lenovo did announce new laptops in its Legion range, the Play never appeared. We don’t think Lenovo will want to lose too much ground behind the new devices that will be its biggest rivals though, such as Valve’s Steam Deck and the potential new Razer gaming handset that was recently announced to demonstrate the Qualcomm Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 gaming chipset.  

We did see a report from The Verge about a concept that Lenovo had presented at CES 2021 that combined an 8in laptop and handheld gaming device, called the LaVie Mini, but Legion Play seems to be the more logical form factor and the one we would expect to see on shelves in the months ahead. 

How much will the Lenovo Legion Play cost?

There are no details on what the Legion Play might cost. Gadgets Now did put a 45,270 rupees price tag in its report (that’s around £449/$599/€539), but this seems very speculative. The price also seems high when you consider that the 64GB Steam Deck costs £349/$399/€399 and the Nintendo Switch OLED will set you back £309/$349/€369. 

It’s true that the higher capacity Steam Decks cost more, so it could be that the Legion Play competes directly with those units, which would justify a larger price. At the moment though, we just don’t know. 

What specs will we see in the Lenovo Legion Play?

While the Legion Play remains something of a mystery, we have seen leaks from the Liliputing site that discovered images on secret Lenovo pages that were created for MWC 2021. These were never officially unveiled, but it does show a concept that is in-line with the other handheld devices available. 

Liliputing also cited the description that was on the site, which read as follows:

“Designed for AAA gaming, the Lenovo Legion Play is the first Android cloud gaming console. The console lets users play hundreds of cloud games, stream their game library, or play mobile games. It features a 7″ 16:9 FHD bezel-less display, HDR 10, built-in controllers, dual speakers, dual vibration, and 7000mAh battery to provide the best gaming experience. Our developer program is open to all game developers. Coming soon in select markets.”

The report also says that the device sports a USB-C charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and uses the classic twin joystick, D-pad and four button layout. The images found by Liliputing suggest the Legion Play runs a version of Android and supports the Google Play Store, Nvidia’s GeForce game streaming service, as well as having some dedicated apps for other features. There’s no Google Stadia app though, although this could be a possibility. 

Whether this is just a concept that didn’t make it out of development or a fully-fledged gaming platform to take on the Steam Deck and others is still unclear. We hope it’s the latter, as the more competition that appears in the mobile gaming space, the more software developers will pay attention to its possibilities.

Until then, be sure to check back regularly, as we’ll be updating this article with any news or leaks surrounding the mysterious Lenovo Legion Play. But if you want to get your gaming fix while on the move now, take a look at our roundup of the best gaming phones and best gaming laptops.