This Might Be the Best Gaming Handheld of 2026! | MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ FIRST LOOK

I've been testing and reviewing every MSI Claw ever since the original Claw 7 years ago, but with the new Claw 8 EX AI+, I think this is the biggest upgrade we have ever seen to this series. Now, here's why I think this handheld is definitely going to be one of the more interesting choices in 2026. It's the design. It's basically copying the ROG Xbox Ally, which introduced deeper and rounder grips on the back, giving you that more full-size Xbox-like controller with a screen wedged between it. But unlike the ROG Xbox Ally, which only has a 7-inch screen, this still has a massive 8-inch display. 1920 by 1200, so it's even taller. You can actually see that little bit of a bump at the bottom there, which I think is pretty cool. Testing it out, the flare grips feel about the same size and the button layout feels very familiar. And with the new dot texture panel on the back, it helps prevent slipping. But they also made a few other refinements. The triggers and sticks are now hall effects. Same for the D-pad and the ABXY, which are built on a metal dome mechanism. So there's less of that spongy mushiness that we had on previous Claws. And here's also another update that you can't see, but I can definitely feel. Under the controls here, we have upgraded haptics, giving you more of that rumble experience that you do get with a traditional Xbox controller. So yeah, it's not just ASUS now. MSI is coming after that portable Xbox experience. And when you combine those new controls, which allow you to play your games for much longer, along with a larger display, you are getting the best of both worlds. As far as colors go, right now you only have this darker purple, which personally I am a fan of. I think it stands out from the sea of other black and white devices. But I know a lot of gamers do prefer those more traditional colors. But as you can see, MSI is definitely experimenting with cooler and more out there colors. So it's not really much of a surprise that they're also bringing it to their handhelds. So the new Claw 8 can be configured up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM with up to a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. But besides that, you get two 2W speakers, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a microSD card slot, along with a 3.5mm jack on the top. Inside, there's Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. And all of this comes in a package that weighs 1.7 pounds. With the new Intel Arc G3 Extreme processor here, this has been tuned specifically for gaming handheld workloads. Fewer CPU cores than a typical laptop chip, but we're getting more headroom for the GPU, along with better efficiency and smoother sustained frame rates. The new chip supports real-time ray tracing and XeSS 3, which combines AI-based upscaling, multi-frame generation, and Xe Low Latency for reduced input lag. Now to keep all this performance sustainable, MSI has also upgraded the Cooler Boost Hyperflow system. We have two fans with two heatpipes and 5W more of cooling headroom versus the previous generation. What that translates to is up to 45W of sustained power in this chassis when you're plugged in, which for a handheld is a very serious number. So far, there are only a few games that I could test out, but here are the results that I saw. Hogwarts Legacy at 1200p, medium, with ray tracing, XeSS 3, set to balanced, with multi-gen set to 4x, we were getting 160 frames per second. On a handheld, that's pretty impressive. Battlefield 6 at 1080p, high, XeSS 3, performance, no frame gen, about 65 frames per second. And then F125 at 1200p, high, with ray tracing, XeSS 3, set to auto, multi-frame gen, set to 4x, we were getting about 180 frames per second. And with all these tests that we're showing you here, the important thing is that you want to have a solid base frame rate. With single-player games like Hogwarts Legacy, 30 frames per second is a good base, but with faster-paced games like Battlefield 6, like we're now showing, you're going to want to get at least 60 frames per second. And of course, the other thing that you can do is pair this with a wireless controller and use this as your docked console with a large screen setup like this. So this is running 4K, high settings, no ray tracing, with XeSS running on performance, and you're getting around 85 to 90 frames per second. So yeah, obviously not to the level of like an Xbox Series X, but for something this portable, this small, they can basically take anywhere, that's still pretty impressive. But you know what your Xbox can't do? Productivity. You can use this as a mini PC, and right now we've got it running and connected with two external monitors. You know, you could have your Photoshop over here on the left, you could run your Steam games on the other monitor, and thanks to the added processing power and the 32 gigabytes of RAM, you can actually get a lot of multitasking done with this small little PC. Now, here's what's interesting. Besides the mCycloid 8EX that I saw, the other first devices confirmed to ship with the new ARCG series chips also include the Acer Predator Atlas 8 and the One X Player 3. More models are anticipated to be announced later this year, but for now, of these three that I've tested, I think the Claw 8EX has the best balance of screen size and ergonomics, and it's probably going to be the handheld most people gravitate towards. But you know what else is also important besides your actual gaming performance? Battery life. Obviously you want to take this and play this on the go for as long as possible. Inside we still have the 80 watt hour battery, but because this chip is more efficient now, we could see to squeeze out a couple extra hours depending on the game and settings you're playing on. All right, so that's all pretty good, but one important question remains. Pricing. Well, when I was speaking with our team, they said they were targeting $1,500 with a release date of June 23rd. Given that the rumors were suggesting that this could cost upwards of $2,000, this is a relief. That said, it's still a very expensive device, but I think we have a lot of new upgrades here that if you've been holding onto a handheld from maybe two or three years ago, not only are we getting the performance improvements, we're getting a great combination of ergonomics, screen size, and weight that I think this might be one of the best handhelds of 2026. But let me know your thoughts in the comments down below, and make sure you're subscribed for more gaming handheld content. And until the next one, I'll catch you later.