Rumor: Xbox prototyping a native Xbox handheld!

https://insider-gaming.com/xbox-handheld/

Jez Corden of the Xbox Two podcast has claimed that Xbox is working on a new native Xbox handheld.

On the Xbox Two podcast, Corden said, “I know that they’ve [Xbox] have got handheld prototypes right now”. Corden soon clarified that these are “new prototypes” and not the old prototypes often referred to. As pointed out in the podcast, prototypes don’t necessarily mean that new products are coming to market, but Xbox pursuing a handheld isn’t at all surprising.

Corden later said, “no not a cloud handheld, a fully native Xbox handheld.”

The Nintendo Switch has sold well over 100 million copies since its initial launch and now with the likes of the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and even the PlayStation Portal coming to market in the last couple of years, Xbox making its move into the handheld market makes sense. In fact, some could even argue that companies tapping into the handheld market are one of the only avenues for hardware growth due to the stagnation in console sales.

It’s unclear on when Xbox would announce a new Xbox handheld, but various rumors have suggested that the console’s next generation of consoles could be a dockable handheld, similar to the Nintendo Switch. Earlier this year, Phil Spencer teased that Xbox’s next-generation console will be ‘unique and powerful’.

What do you think, SW? Do you believe it?It seems like the Switch‘s success has had a huge influence in this segment. Even the PlayStation Portal achieved better than expected success. I’m excited to see what competition brings!

I will believe it when I see it. With that said, it would be an easy move for Xbox if it is as performant as the Series S. No changes would be needed for existing games.

The return of the Halo DS coming to Xbox Handheld coming soon!

But really, I don't believe this rumor for 2 reasons:

1. MS would have enter the Handheld market during the reigned of PSP & DS to 3DS cause that was the time/era to do an Xbox handheld style. Entering/doing a Handheld now is doomed to failed.
2. MS doesn't have the audience to support such a handheld and I sure as hell don't see them doing a PC handheld style either if all there gonna do is forcing using windows for that matter.

Just my 2 cents so I don't know how this will all play out.

Interesting. I would more expect them to just throw their support behind something like the ROG Ally instead though. I may be interested in one they make depending on what it was like. Would have to see though.

MS doing a handheld before would have been significantly harder and less viable as a newcommer. With the existence of the Series S, a handheld is more viable for Xbox than ever before if they do decide to jump into the fray.

I know Phil is a dumbarse, but surely he's not THAT dumb right?

Lol

I've been saying they should make one for years. Their emphasis on backwards compatibility along with gamepass makes it a more attractive prospect then Switch 2 or a hypothetical Sony handheld (for me)

They could've launched a handheld Xbox One in 22 and had a massive head start over the Switch 2 and maybe even beaten the Steam Deck to market ... better late then never i suppose. Hope it's true and we see a handheld Series S in a couple years.

Good. Crush Nintendo and its 2003 hardware.

I believe it. Steamdeck's SOC was developed by MS, now they're realizing the handheld game market is where the next generation of players is going to be sourced.

Will it ever make it to market? Who knows.

That's what I was thinking.

Rather not see a 'portable xbox' since that's just kinda boring. Something like an ROG Ally can already play Xbox games, and will also play games from other platforms (like Steam and GOG). A portable xbox would be more limited, so what does it have going for it? cheap?

That is actually very true, and if Sony releases everything on pc within the first few months, they'd be in the same boat if they were to release a handheld, which i bet they will.

The ROG experience is not refine as Steam or Switch. It is a PC trapped with a gamepad and touchscreen controls without a seamless interface.

In....

Day 1

I’m playing Halo MCC on the Steam Deck right now. Give me the other Xbox games with my save files and achievements etc on the go and I’m in.

Not interested.

I'm not gonna lie, that might be a good move for them, but the handheld market is already getting crowded, and offering a walled garden handheld kinda seems like a step backwards if they went that route.

I'm hesitant to ask but....How was steam decks SOC developed by MS?

Anywho such a device would make sense. A portable gateway to Gamepass means another barrier to entry knocked down. Asus, lenovo and others have the windows side covered but the price of entry is probably not where MS would want it for more mass appeal.

It'll be interesting to see how it turns out if true. If they can literally take the series S, shrink it down and stick a screen on it then happy days. No work needed on the software side basically. If they need to move over to something with a newer CPU architecture and GPU architecture to hit the efficiency needed then it could mean a lot of retesting and patching. That's still doable too though. They did it for the X1X back in the day.

Unless it has PC and Xbox integration it will likely be dead in the water. If they release their own take on a PC/Console handheld however... well it could be huge. That is the next step in console gaming, well then again, gaming as a whole. I keep saying it, it's only a matter of time before the marketplaces are interchangeable, and if so, I'm all for it personally.

@osan0: It’s a long-standing rumor that it was a design by MS engineers in tandem with AMD and shelved when execs decided there wasn’t enough upside to chasing the handheld market (imagine a $400 Xbox alongside a $299 XboxS and $500 XboxX).

Valve dabbles in hardware but few believe they had retained on-staff someone with the engineering pedigree to develop a chip of this kind. So it’s believed that they came across the SOC, asked MS if they could use it without incurring a fee, and MS allowed them to since they were of the mind that more handheld PCs was better for everyone.

Hmmm I have my doubts. A lot of holes in this rumour.

There was the rumour ages ago that MS were looking to make something like the steam link. A very cheap box for under the telly that just does streaming. They shelved it for cost reasons apparently. It wouldn't have been much cheaper than an XSS in the end anyway. The Steam deck SOC wouldn't be suitable for that task. It would be complete overkill. Something lower powered and ARM based would also be more suitable. It sounds like a couple of rumours are getting crossed there.

As for the staff argument: Valve don't need engineers with expertise in chip design to make the SOC. That's what they pay AMD for. AMD have a custom silicon business for quite some time now specifically for companies who don't have the capacity to design a chip in house. Like with the consoles, AMD and Valve just need to coordinate on integration and cost and specs and all that good stuff. Vale do have the necessary staff to do that side of the engineering work (though there are mistakes with the steam deck, especially the launch model: so still learning).

There is nothing really novel or bespoke about the SOC in the deck. It's not that customised. AMD took one of their SOCs for laptops and just lobbed 4 cores off the CPU basically. It's nowhere near as customised as something like the XSX or PS5 chip. I mean the fact that none of the custom work from the XSX/S is in the Steam deck would suggest that MS didn't have anything to do with it.

As rumours go....that one has major holes in it.

MS could certainly create a more polished handheld experience for Windows if they wanted to (then again, looking at their attempts at UX over the years, maybe they can't 😅)

@pyro1245: 😂

Like the idea of a official ms gamepass handheld.

Bring back the blades UI!

@osan0: The only source I can remember off the top of my head accrediting the rumor is Moore’s Law Is Dead, but my recollection around the intro of the SD was it being accepted as true.

The Switchbox? That should be the name. Well, it is not completely unthinkable since Phil often talks about playing games everywhere. I am sure a handheld console would flop though.