Even Lenovo knows that you want to use your tablet as a gaming handheld

I recently wrote about how we don’t actually need to buy new hardware just for the sake of gaming. Then Lenovo did something unexpected when announcing the Y700 4th Gen — it also introduced a dedicated controller. But this isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen.

Instead of adding another expandable controller to a market that’s already saturated, Lenovo introduced a dedicated “controller shell.” Basically, you’re able to remove the backplate, slot in the Y700, reattach the back, and be ready to go.

There are a few reasons why this is so exciting, starting with the fact that it basically turns your tablet into an Android-powered Legion Go handheld. In case you weren’t aware, the Lenovo Y700 2nd Gen actually uses the same screen as the original Legion Go that was released in 2023. And while I’m not 100% positive, I’m fairly certain it’s the same screen that’s found in the Legion Go S that was announced at CES 2025.

After translating some of the material shared during the announcement, it appears that Lenovo is actually set to release two versions of the “Controller G9.” Most of the features look to be the same for both, with at least one notable exception, as the G9 Pro features a different speaker system.

If you were to spend a bit of time on either r/SBCGaming or r/EmulationOnAndroid, I would be shocked if you didn’t come across a post about the previous Y700 models. This tablet has become a darling in the emulation and gaming community, as the 2nd Gen has a compact design and a microSD card slot. The 3rd Gen fell off a bit in popularity, not because of its functionality, but mainly because Lenovo decided to ditch the expandable storage.

It seems that Lenovo is listening to the community, as the Y700 4th Gen brings back the microSD card slot. Plus, it’s powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which has been a mixed bag in terms of emulation but is still a powerhouse chip.

While it might seem counterintuitive to use a tablet inside a controller shell, to me, it just adds another layer of flexibility. Instead of trying to get the tablet to connect to an external controller, I can just pop it into the shell and start playing. But it comes with the added convenience of being a “regular” tablet when the situation suits me.

Lenovo has yet to confirm whether the Y700 4th Gen will actually make its way to this side of the world. For one, the Legion Tab was only just recently released, which is basically a Y700 Gen 3 with different branding. It will seem a bit odd if we see a new iteration, less than six months after the previous one.

The other thing holding Lenovo back from bringing this to the States is the current economic and political climate. The back-and-forth tariff situation between the U.S. and Chinese governments has been wreaking havoc on everything, not just electronics. Because of that, a number of companies raised prices, whether on devices or accessories.

With that in mind, the Y700 Gen 4 is priced at either 3299 CNY for the 12GB/256GB model or 3799 CNY for the 16GB/512GB variant. That works out to around $455 and $525, respectively, with the G9 controller priced at $69. In total, you’re looking at about $600 for everything, which doesn’t sound completely terrible compared to the Legion Tab and its $549 price tag.

Unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely that we would see Lenovo offer similar prices if it were to release the tablet and controller here in the U.S., but we’ll see as the tariff situation progresses.