Xbox Handheld Console Confirmed by Phil Spencer

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 13, 2024 132 Views 6 Min Read
Xbox Handheld Console Confirmed by Phil Spencer

Key Takeaways

  • Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that an Xbox handheld console is in the works.
  • The company is currently in the process of prototyping the device, but wants to improve the Xbox app experience on existing handhelds before making a portable gaming console of its own.
  • The Xbox handheld is still a few years away from release as of late 2024.



An Xbox handheld gaming console is in the works, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has revealed. But Xbox fans shouldn’t expect to see it in the immediate future.

Rumors about Microsoft making a portable gaming device have been circulating online for years, usually coming in waves. Several such claims emerged over the course of 2024, with many of them being offered by Microsoft insider Jez Corden, who repeatedly insisted that an Xbox handheld console is in the works.

Lenovo Legion Go displaying Xbox logo on green background 2x1 composite

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Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has now confirmed that is indeed the case. Speaking to Bloomberg, the executive acknowledged that fans expect the company to “do something” in the portable gaming sphere. Microsoft has already started thinking about what that “something” could entail and is presently in the process of prototyping its first-ever handheld gaming system, Spencer said. The official also noted that he asked his team to develop not just a handheld but a full-fledged vision for how Microsoft could compete in the portable gaming market.



Xbox Handheld Console Is Still Years Away From Release

And while Microsoft’s efforts on this front continue, Spencer says that the company’s first handheld gaming console won’t hit the market in the immediate future. Instead, it’s still a few years away from release. Back in early November 2024, Jez Corden reported that the first-ever Xbox handheld might still be unveiled or at least teased sometime in 2025. Between that and Spencer’s newly shared clarification, it would appear that the mysterious gadget might not be part of the next generation of Xbox consoles, which Microsoft expects to kick off in 2028, having said as much in some 2023 legal filings related to its legal battle with the FTC over the since-completed Activision Blizzard acquisition.


The confirmation that Microsoft will eventually make a move in the portable gaming market will not come as a surprise to the most attentive of fans. Spencer has repeatedly flirted with this idea in the past, to the point that he personally stoked some Xbox handheld console rumors in early 2024. The executive now told Bloomberg that he loves the idea of Microsoft building new devices in the long term. “I think our team could do some real innovative work, but we want to be informed by learning and what’s happening now,” he explained.

Microsoft Wants to Improve the Xbox App Before Releasing a Handheld Console

To that end, Microsoft presently intends to focus on improving the Xbox app experience on existing handhelds before commercializing a portable console of its own. Spencer described the current version of the app as being “good rather than great on some of these gadgets,” noting that Microsoft will be looking to improve it and learn from doing so, then use that knowledge to inform the design of its upcoming Xbox handheld console.


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