In a world where there’s a decisive difference between mobile/handheld and console/PC gaming, Xbox appears to be wanting to blur the lines the near future. This comes from Xbox president Sarah Bond directly, who claims the new Xbox will be a powerful, portable experience that follows the players across devices, instead of living under your TV unit.
“But that’s a huge change in tone from Xbox, isn’t it?”, you might say, and you’d be 100% right. Think about it though, Microsoft is increasingly obsessed with cloud, Game Pass, and PC inclusion, so the idea of a new Xbox portable console that also doubles as a fully blown console and living room PC experience, suddenly feels less like wishful thinking and more like the next logical step for the tech company.
And all of this happening just as Valve is seemingly doubling down on more “local” hardware with the new Steam Machine, while not giving us a true Steam Deck 2, makes even more sense now – the timing just feels right. One platform is going smaller and more portable, while the other beefs up and tries to become the PC experience for your living room, more of a stationary experience.
So let’s go down the road of prediction and see, what a portable Xbox could actually look like, what it would cost, and – the million dollar question – do we need another portable gaming device that struggles, where we were promised polished hardware?
The New Xbox Portable Console is the Future of Xbox
In the Fortune Interview, Bond made it aBondantly (we couldn’t help it) clear, that hardware is still a central component to Xbox’s road to success, not just an optional extra hidden behind cloud and subscription services.
The next Xbox machine is described internally as something that is powerful, and – the most important part – able to travel with players across all different screens, however many one may have.
Indeed, reports over the past year point toward a hybrid strategy, so this interview isn’t the first clue we’ve been able to piece together. One part is a new Xbox portable console or handheld style device that behaves more like a small PC, running some flavour of Windows with an Xbox layer on top. The other part is a more traditional next gen box targeting 2027, but we’re still too far off that date to make an educated guess.
Having said that, Microsoft already has a test bed for this approach in the $1,000 ROG Xbox Ally X, where it partnered with ASUS on a Windows handheld tuned heavily around Game Pass and the Xbox ecosystem.
Those devices are effectively prototypes for a future where Xbox is as much a portable platform as a console, but we’re not entirely sure if that’s what Bond meant – we’re pretty confident in saying that it’s probably going to be a pure Xbox experience, without ROG or ASUS in the mix.
Will A New Xbox Portable Console Push Prices Even Higher?
Let’s speak about the elephant in the room, considering the backlash the price hike in Game Pass subscriptions has already caused much anger from fans in early 2025 – will the new console push console prices even higher? Handheld PC devices aren’t cheap to begin with, especially if they chase higher fram rates, a good battery life, and an OLED screen, for example.
The Ally X sits at the higher end of this spectrum, and it still has some considerable tradeoff, so what gives? If Microsoft wants next gen level performance in a portable shell, it will be fighting the same silicon realities as everyone else. Valve has been blunt about this with Steam Deck 2, saying there is no point refreshing the hardware until chips can offer a real generational leap without killing cost or battery, especially since few games on the market even properly capitalize on that hardware.
In that instance, we think that game optimization within the dev process has to take a leap forward – not so much the hardware. Either way, we think players should probably expect higher launch prices than the current Series S and Series X if portability and PC style flexibility really are part of the package – that’s just the deal we have to take, if we want that new, shiny Xbox package Microsoft offers.
The New Xbox Portable Console is a Big Step – But is the Direction the Right One?
Even with all the caveats, a new Xbox portable console would be a big deal, and we can’t say that we’re not a teensy tiny bit excited – because we are. It would finally give Xbox its own first party answer to the Steam Deck style handheld boom, instead of leaning entirely on partners, like with the ROG Ally. It would also lock the idea of Xbox as an everywhere platform into the hardware itself, not just a slogan.
The obvious risk is that it launches as a very expensive proof of concept in a market already crowded with handheld PCs and now reinforced by Valve’s new local devices. On the other hand, the opportunity is that Xbox nails the balance between price, power, and ease of use, and turns that portable into the default way a lot of people experience the brand.
Right now it is all hints and careful wording from Bond, plus a growing pile of reports pointing in roughly the same direction. Until Microsoft actually shows the box, speculation is all we have. But if you join the dots between Xbox’s hardware talk, its PC pivot, and the portable boom, we might be in for something really cool in the future of Xbox.
