We’d not be getting that handheld Xbox for a while

Lots of people (not least Engadget’s personal ) have been asking Microsoft to make an Xbox-branded handheld for a very long time. And it appeared for some time like we may be getting within the not-so distant future. However Microsoft’s priorities have reportedly shifted to enhancing the broadly criticised efficiency of Home windows 11 on current third-party PC gaming handhelds.

In an unique report,  claims {that a} devoted Xbox handheld system, which might have launched in 2027 alongside the successor to the Xbox Collection X, isn’t the corporate’s most important space of focus proper now, even when it stays eager on the concept. An internally developed handheld, for which Home windows Central’s Jez Corden says he has seen plenty of completely different codenames, just isn’t at the moment being labored on, and he provides that no layoffs have taken place on account of the strategic shift.

Whereas a local Xbox system may be a way off, the report makes clear that Microsoft remains to be very a lot energetic within the handheld market. A 3rd-party console that it has been engaged on with ASUS, codenamed “Challenge Kennan”, remains to be focusing on a 2025 launch. It is seemingly this system, which might be outfitted with AMD’s Z2 Excessive chip, will ship with an improved Home windows 11 expertise higher suited to a controller interface.

The software program’s awkward integration in early iterations of PC handhelds just like the Lenovo Legion Go and ASUS ROG Ally has been an enormous drawback, and it’s partly why individuals are so excited in regards to the expertise now not being unique to the Steam Deck. The Lenovo Legion Go S began delivery with SteamOS working out of the field this week, the primary handheld not made by Valve to take action.