ASUS ROG Ally SD Card Reader Defect – Defective Electronics Investigation
The 2023 ASUS Republic of Gamers (“ROG”) Ally is plagued by reports of issues with its SD card readers. ASUS claims to have fixed the issue with a software update and a hardware. Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel is investigating these reports and we want to hear about your experience with your Ally. We have extensive experience litigating consumer electronics cases and we have a proven track record of success in requiring manufacturers to fully fix hardware defects and provide compensation to consumers. If you have had problems with your 2023 ROG Ally’s SD card readers and ASUS has refused or failed to resolve the issue, please call us at 312.782.4880 or reach us via email at lnichols@caffertyclobes.com
In June 2023, ASUS released the top-of-the-line handheld gaming device known as the ASUS ROG Ally. ROG bills itself as the brand for gamers. Unlike traditional handhelds (like the Nintendo Gameboy and Nintendo DS) which used cutdown mobile hardware inside, the Allys were bigger, beefier, and used chips closer to desktop PCs.
Despite its hefty price tag, the ROG Ally only came with 512GB of internal M.2 storage, of which 420 GB was usable after OS and other overhead. With the gargantuan size of modern games, 420 GB tended to be quickly used up. Thus, easily expandable storage, through the use of removable SD cards, was a major selling point of the ROG Ally.
Unfortunately, the ROG Ally’s SDcard reader is infamous for being DOA, dying over time (even if it is never used), or outright killing inserted SD cards. The most likely culprit is the extreme heat inherent in the design from cramming high power hardware into a compact handheld chassis. This is exacerbated by the fact that the flash storage reader is located right beneath the main exhaust.
After nearly a year of silence, ASUS finally acknowledged the problem in May 2024 after the problem received mass media coverage. The same month, ASUS extended the warranty on the 2023 Ally from twelve months to twenty-four months. In June 2024, ASUS announced a revised motherboard designed to resolve the issue, which would become available in August to September of 2024.
It is thus highly likely that the original motherboard carried a defect within its very design. And ROG Ally owners remain skeptical on whether that the redesigned motherboard has fixed the issue. Further, in the absence of a recall, ROG Ally owners are also left wondering if ASUS will replace the motherboard under warranty on all units or only on units where the SD Card reader has actually failed.
Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel has the experience and expertise litigating defective electronics cases. If you had an issue with the flash memory card reader on your 2023 ASUS ROG Ally, or other issues, and ASUS either failed to resolve the issue or refused to do so, then please call us at 312.782.4880 or reach us via email at lnichols@caffertyclobes.com.
November 4, 2024Share on Social Media