The market for solid handheld consoles is large – as proven by the successes of Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally and the Nintendo Switch. An Xbox expert now assumes that Microsoft will also jump on the bandwagon and soon bring its own hardware onto the market.
Will the next Xbox be a handheld console?
The Nintendo Switch has now sold almost 140 million times – the console is probably more than worth it for Nintendo. These numbers and the successes of Steam Deck and Co. show that the demand for standalone handheld consoles is there – something that hasn't gone unnoticed by Sony and Microsoft.
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After rumors arose recently that Sony was working internally on a real PlayStation Vita 2 (source: YouTube – Moore's Law is Dead), technology expert Jez Corden from Windows Central now assumes that Microsoft is launching an Xbox handheld. In his opinion, “this is absolutely necessary.”
Corden also emphasizes that the handheld console should not be a simple cloud gaming device like the PlayStation Portal. He expects Microsoft to work on a more powerful console offers enough power to run current games natively. Even though network expansion continues to progress worldwide, there are still technical hurdles that make cloud gaming feel quite unsatisfactory, especially on the move.
How well does cloud gaming work now? We tell you in the video:
Even more rumors about the next generation of Xbox
Xbox community member Magg also explains in the podcast with colteastwood that he has heard that an Xbox handheld console is in development. He mentions that, to his knowledge the Surface team should deal with it. The current plan is for the Xbox Switch in the last months of 2026 gets started.
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You can listen to the relevant part of the podcast yourself here:
In addition, there should be a regular Xbox will appear, which may be more expensive than the current models – but Magg did not reveal any more information in the podcast about the stationary console. However, perhaps we will find out more next week.