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Acer is about to do something it’s never done before

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CPU block on the Acer Predator Orion 7000.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
IFA 2024
This story is part of our coverage of IFA Berlin 2024

With IFA 2024 set to begin this week, the first announcements and teasers are already here, including a slew of new Intel Lunar Lake mobile processors — and those CPUs might appear in some unexpected devices. One of those devices might be a new gaming handheld, and this time, it’s from a manufacturer that hasn’t ventured into that market before: Acer. According to a teaser on X (formerly Twitter), Acer is working on some exciting new releases, and although the announcement is fairly cryptic, one of those products looks like a handheld.

Predator Gaming, an Acer account, dropped a little hint about its upcoming lineup, which will be unveiled on September 4. It’s nothing more than a couple of silhouettes, but that’s enough to get the speculation flowing. One of the silhouettes is clearly an Acer laptop, but there’s also a different product, half of which is obstructed.

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More likely than not, it’s a gaming handheld. The shape is distinct and familiar, considering that many of Acer’s competitors have already launched their own handhelds. The craze started with the Steam Deck, but by now, we’ve seen many other versions, from the Lenovo Legion Go to the Asus ROG Ally X.

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Time to command the games, break the limits, and double the action with the newest gaming gear announcements from Predator. Mark you calendars 4.9.2024.#NextAtAcer #IFA2024 pic.twitter.com/dNFdA1z8hN

— Predator Gaming (@PredatorGaming) September 1, 2024

Is it guaranteed that Acer is releasing a gaming console? No, but it does seem very likely, as it’s high time that it joined that part of the market. Gaming handhelds are doing great, with new releases every few months. The majority of successful consoles run on AMD hardware, including chips like the Ryzen Z1 Extreme or the new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. There are some Intel options, such as the MSI Claw (soon to get a successor), but AMD definitely dominates this space.

Acer might be going against the curve with this rumored new handheld, however. As noted by VideoCardz, all of Acer’s teasers so far have been related to Intel-based hardware. With Intel unveiling its next-gen Core Ultra 2 CPUs just a day before Acer’s announcements go live, it’s easy to connect the dots.

None of this is confirmed, but we’ll know more soon. We’re at IFA 2024 and will be keeping you posted with all the juiciest releases throughout the week.

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Monica J. White
Monica J. White
Computing Writer
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
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