2mo ago

Microsoft's Xbox Handheld: Switch-Like Dock and Multi-Platform Support

Rumor: Xbox Handheld Will Have Something Big in Common With the Nintendo Switch

Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox handheld, likely releasing by 2027, may feature a Switch-style docking system, allowing both handheld and TV play. Reports suggest two handheld projects: one by ASUS (possibly 2025) and a "true" successor by Microsoft (2027). The latter may use Qualcomm chips, support games from Microsoft Store, Epic, and Steam, and could even run PlayStation titles—a first for Xbox. However, details remain unconfirmed. Release timelines vary, with some pointing to 2027 and others to 2028.

23 comments

This feels weirdly too late. I can't imagine that many people in 2027 who passed on a Switch 1/2, SteamDeck, supposed other upcoming handhelds, or the ROG Ally and are looking for a gaming handheld with money to burn.
Xbox has to really bring something hot to the table, and its certainly not whatever they've been doing with their hardware/games/IPs for the past 5 years.
- That's like saying people won't be interested in new laptops because they already own one. If new handhelds are more performant and power efficient, there will be demand for it.
  
  With a Qualcomm chip though… there will be some teething issues, best case.
  
  True, though people tend to replace laptops when they fall out of support or start having hardware issues, much less often to do an upgrade looking for more frames.
  I still feel Microsoft has to bring something hot to really sway anyone over since they have a long history of competing in the mobile hardware space and fumbling it hard.
- Allegedly, it's an improved Windows experience so you get the compatibility without having to use a desktop operating system on a handheld game machine. So, you get Game Pass and kernel level anti cheat games with a UX similar to the Steam Deck (ish). And besides, "everything is an Xbox". They don't care how many of these things sell as long as you're on Game Pass or buying their games.
  
  Let's all call their bluff and buy none of them to see how much they care.
  
  So it'll be the ROG Ally but 'better' because its less Windows than normal. Hmm.
  The last part concerns me. Why am I buying into a platform that Microsoft couldn't care less if it sells at all because they make their money from subscriptions?
  People don't want hardware that just gets abandoned when its not profitable enough, which Microsoft absolutely has a history of doing.
  
  Allegedly
Using Qualcomm chips
Oof.
Why didn’t they go AMD, or heck, even Intel? They have GPU-heavy APUs in the pipe that would mostly just work.
Intel, in particular, is not bad power-wise as long as they aren’t clocking chips to very edge like they’ve been doing, and won’t necessarily have the TSMC capacity constraint. That’s huge.
- I mean choosing Qualcomm means they're targeting Arm chips, which Intel and AMD don't make.
  It would probably mean a longer battery life, but I'm not sure how that would work for backwards compatibility and power.
  If that's true though, it would really set this device apart from the competition.
  
  It means emulation with pretty much every current title, and graphics driver issues and sluggish game out of the wazoo (as Qualcomm is very different than AMD/Intel/Nvidia).
  ARM being more power efficient is also kind of a meme. Intel/AMD can be extremely good when clocked low (which they can do since there’s no emulation overhead), with both the CPU/GPU. Apple just makes x86 look bad because they burn a ton of money on power efficiency, but Qualcomm is more in the “budget” space. No one is paying $2K for an Xbox handheld like they would for an Apple product.
- I honestly thought the entire point of the Series S was that they would later be able to shrink it down into a portable device without any game patches
  Call it the "xbox series s" without capitalization lol, Microsoft loves confusing names, right?
  
  Yeah, that would be perfect!
  Or (alternatively) they could majorly underclock the a shrunken series X chip to make it equivalent to an S.
I never get the mind blowness some people get about a hypothetical future Xbox branded handheld that could runs all these stores that can play PlayStation games. It's a PC. You can play PlayStation games on Windows devices for years now. It's not a gotcha big brain strategic masterpiece on Microsofts part. Pay Valve to play PlayStation games. Current Xbox gamers in the future pay Valve to play 3rd party games rather than Microsoft

23 comments