Honestly, it's almost a relief knowing we won't have to rely on the manufacturers forever. If anything, this situation is a massive win for Linux gaming distributions. Once the necessary drivers, device trees, and patches are successfully upstreamed and merged into the mainline Linux kernel, they are maintained indefinitely by the community. It completely removes the anxiety of hardware expiration, ensuring these handhelds are freed from corporate update cycles and will keep running smoothly long after official support is abandoned.

If true, this indicates a much shorter supported lifespan than we would normally see in a gaming laptop or desktop.

If this trend were to continue, then it would likely affect the viability of the handheld gaming PC market.  No one wants to buy a handheld console or a handheld PC device that lacks driver updates and support after only three years.