the cloud seems to be doing decently enough and has good reviews, if I were to buy anything non Switch right now that’s what I’d get because of the 12 hour battery life and the fact it fits my play needs. I’ve got no real need to have a handheld that plays natively because I’ve got internet almost everywhere I am, and Xbox can still make it feel like their own experience by combining their abilities with making controllers that feel good in your hands with some software work on the interface to make it work better. It also doesn’t bump the prices to the levels that are more enthusiast focused and keeps it in the 250 - 350 range which I don’t see Microsoft hitting if they have to do the processing locally.
I think the places where I’d actually want to have a portable device are places where I wouldn’t have a reliable enough connection for streaming, like an airplane, train, or hotel.
Utility of the various types of handheld devices seem very dependent on ones circumstances.
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This is the exact reason where I believe every option should exsist.
Is this 28 watt for 5nm or less. I can see 12w for HB2 using 3nm and ARM CPU.
Don’t have much info on ARM side so I don’t have much idea about it.
Let’s see… The current Zen3 RDNA 3 AMD APUs are just short of having a 75 watt Series S performance at 28 watt. Most of the limitations come via the lack of bandwidth and these APUs can’t run CPU and GPU max all the time.
If we take 2 more generations until 2026, these issues can be fixed. We can have high bandwidth and components can work at expected performance all the time. So Zen 5 and RDNA 5 are my targets. 3nm looks like a good bet to me as well.
So with Zen 5 and RDNA 5 i will create a little incremental successor of series S in 2026 and switch to 4 year cycle to release a new console with 8 year of total support.
The 2026 series S will be configured as a handheld. It will only have 10-20% of raw tflop improvement. Major performance increments will come via new IP blocks. It will be less bottlenecked this time. With reduced resolution target of 1080p (reduction from 1440p).
Releasing it 2 years early will insure that devs transition to it from 2020 series S more easily. Devs may just develope game for 2020 console and let the same game setting run uncapped on 2026 console. This way third party devs wont have development issues.
Offcourse, first party will optimise even better. And if any third party wants to optimise they are welcome.
Key thing is timing, I don’t think this will work if launched in 2028 along side next PS platform.
Found an intresting example of gddr5 vs gddr6.
GTX 1650 has two variants, one is gddr5 @8000MHz and other gddr6 @12000MHz
The performance difference noticed is 5-15% with avg of 9% gain due to gddr6.
It seems unlikely. As you can see from that footage, the Steam Deck runs at much lower graphics settings. No problem on that small screen. But a handheld Xbox won’t be able to match the Series S specs, which means that games would have to be optimized for three separate Xbox consoles. Since devs are already complaining about the extra work for Series S, Microsoft simply can’t afford to do that.
I still think a Windows-based device, optimized for the Xbox app/launcher, would be a more realistic option. It would also appeal to more people than a locked-down Xbox console.
The other problem with launching a handheld in 2026 is that it would almost immediately feel outdated with “next gen” on the horizon for 2028.
So I can’t see Xbox releasing a dedicated handheld any time soon. (Although I’ll gladly be wrong!) What I can see is a “Designed for Xbox” partnership with a third-party manufacturer. So far we have Asus, Lenovo and MSI on the handheld PC train. Just a matter of time before Alienware, Acer, Razer or HP join in, right?
I made a thread about this already. Something with 5G as well. It could be dirt cheap. $99-199 depending on how fancy the controller is.
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Being that we’re 4 years into this gen, I wonder if it makes sense to not pursue a handheld at this generation but fashion the next gen around 2 launch machines that look more like: 1 portable + 1 home console.
In 2028, having a machine for 1080p TVs simply doesn’t make sense. But having a 1080p handheld makes a lot of sense.
The Series S has given Xbox some valuable experience in all aspects where they could probably nail the specs really well. Since they’re not going head-to-head with a PS6, they can actually do some innovative stuff with their next console that can adopt features that make the console a little less powerful but prime for a handheld adaptation.
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I just think the portable console would be so far away from the home console in terms of capability that it’d be problematic. And yeah, they could make the home console less powerful but I don’t think that’s what the Xbox community wants.
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This can be done if the products are launched in 2026, 2 years earlier.
Because then there won’t be any PS6 to compare to😉
@tomwarren is confident the next Xbox is going with ARM. 
Chance of portable 
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I wonder if he was just speculating from the leaks or if he actually knows
Hope he clarifies soon
ARM cores will probably never be as fast as the fastest Intel / AMD x86 cores of the same year, but the ones going into consoles are mid-range anyways, and the fastest ARM cores are comparable.
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That’s what I was thinking but I can also see the argument that if it is missing some key hardware features it will become obsolete very quickly.
That said, so much of this strategy and where they release a console at their own cadence alongside a potential handheld relies on the strength of their first party. I don’t think they have the brand power to really do this.
I mean the Dreamcast came out with stellar games and a fantastic first party but things like the power differential and a weak brand really hurt its ability to compete. Though I don’t want to make a direct comparison because unlike the Dreamcast the Xbox will have full third party support and a lot of people will like to play these third party games on a handheld. Potential handheld. If GTA 6 ran pretty good on it, that could be very appealing.
I am up for it!
That is why I mentioned, switch to 4 year cycle with 8 years of support.
With ABK now under them, they have a chance to do what Nintendo did with Switch.
It is now or never.
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Yes it certainly explains why they are going big.
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