Following hot on the heels of Logitech’s G Cloud announcement, Razer just teased its own cloud gaming handheld. A short video of the Razer Edge 5G appeared during Verizon’s keynote at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas, with additional details slated for October 15th during RazerCon.
That’s right; Razer and Verizon teamed up to build a portable cloud gaming console. And they got some help from Qualcomm. The Razer Edge 5G runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon G3x platform, which was shown off using a concept Razer handheld last year.
BREAKING: @Verizon, @Razer and @Qualcomm are teaming up on the world’s first 5G mobile gaming handheld—Razer Edge 5G! It will allow you to play your favorite games regardless of whether you are gaming in the cloud, on an app or streaming from your console. https://t.co/TYPw5xFyeF pic.twitter.com/F9Vg3CfABl
— George Koroneos 🗿🍹 (@GLKCreative) September 28, 2022
Details on the Razer Edge 5G, such as specs, features, design, and pricing, are unknown. But it will run Android, and it’s compatible with services like Xbox Cloud Gaming. We also know that the console has some kind of fancy shoulder buttons (they’re highlighted in the teaser video).
We can also infer a few things about the console. It uses the Snapdragon G3x platform, so in theory, it should be able to run Android games locally. It may also support 4K video output and work with augmented reality glasses (two things that are mentioned in Qualcomm’s G3x writeup from 2021).
Presumably, Verizon is involved with this project because of its mmWave 5G infrastructure. Verizon is in a unique position to market and sell a cloud gaming handheld, as mmWave 5G offers faster speeds than any other mobile connection (but due to its short range, mmWave 5G is hard to find outside of big cities).
We’ll get a better look at the Razer Edge 5G on October 15th during RazerCon. My guess is that the console looks similar to Razer’s Kishi controller for mobile phones.
