When Microsoft jumped into the portable gaming space the gaming world went wild. At CES 2025 they gave us a sneak peek into the long awaited Xbox handheld-a device that combines console and PC gaming.
Xbox Handheld: A Look into the Future
So when Jason Ronald, VP of Xbox Gaming Devices and Ecosystem-and the architect of the Xbox One X and Xbox Series S|X-said this on stage about the upcoming Xbox handheld: this thing is going to be the best way to keep playing PC gaming-pretty much the ultimate portable gaming console from anywhere. Or at least that’s what’s going to be another big change in this ever changing world of gaming.
He didn’t give a date on that but he said more info later this year so fans are hyped.
A Long-Awaited Project
A Microsoft gaming handheld has been rumored for years. Speculation grew when the Head of Gaming for Microsoft, Phil Spencer, said recently that his company was interested in portable gaming. *But he clarified that the project is still in early stages and “a few years” away.
Given the timelines, many insiders think the Xbox handheld will be out in late 2026. That also lines up with the rumors of a new Xbox home console coming out then.
Competition in the Gaming Handheld Market
That’s after several new handhelds with AMD’s Ryzen Z2 processor have been announced. The Valve Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally just dropped and now Microsoft is joining the party with a serious attempt to carve a big slice of the growing handheld gaming market.
The Xbox handheld will tap into Microsoft’s vast ecosystem with features like Xbox Game Pass, cloud gaming and PC gaming. That’s a smart play to make the device competitive in a crowded market.
But until more is said we’re excited. This could be another case where Microsoft raises the bar in portable gaming and puts high tech into user friendly design.
What’s Next?
More info by the end of the year and 2025 will be the big test of Microsoft’s handheld ambitions. For now we can only speculate on what this thing might bring.
Microsoft is going big into the handheld gaming space. The release is years away but the rumored Xbox handheld has already got gamers hyped. As the gaming landscape shifts a Microsoft handheld would not only change how we play our existing games but maybe even create new ones.
“We’ve been really innovating for a long time in the console space, and as we partner across the industry it’s really about how do we bring those innovations that we’ve incubated and developed in the console space and bring them to PC and bring them to the handheld gaming space.
I would say it’s bringing the best of Xbox and Windows together,because we have spent the last 20 years building a world-class operating system, but it’s really locked to the console. What we’re doing is we’re really focused on how do we bring those experiences for both players and developers to the broader Windows ecosystem.
We’re focused on really simplifying that and making it much more like a console experience. Our goal is to put the player and their library at the center of the experience and not all the Windows work that you have to do today.”
