Amidst several announcements of new handhelds powered by AMD’s Ryzen Z2 processor, Microsoft also talked about its upcoming highly anticipated Xbox handheld at CES 2025.
The Verge was able to discuss the subject with Jason Ronald, Vice President of Xbox Gaming Devices and Ecosystem at Microsoft. Ronald, who previously led the development of the Xbox One X and Xbox Series S|X console launches, promised that the Xbox handheld would offer users the best of console and PC put together.
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.
The launch of the Xbox handheld isn’t quite imminent, but Ronald teased that Microsoft would share a lot more later this year.
There have been rumors about Microsoft’s handheld projects for years. Head of gaming Phil Spencer finally confirmed it with his recent comments but also said the handheld is still ‘a few years’ out. Putting two and two together, it sounds like late 2026 could be a likely release window. The new Xbox home console is also rumored to debut in late 2026.
