For decades, Nintendo has sat at the top of the handheld console space. Sony threatened this position throughout the 2000s with the PlayStation Portable, but the handheld console didn’t have the staying power and longevity that Nintendo’s offerings had. Meanwhile, the follow-up, the PlayStation Vita, was nowhere near as successful as its predecessor, which further cemented Nintendo’s growth in the segment. The release of the Nintendo Switch back in 2017 only widened the gap and we haven’t heard much about a potential rival to the Switch since – until now.
Earlier this year, Valve announced the Steam Deck, a portable gaming PC that could play a lot more games than the Switch at their native settings – games such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. However, another contender might be in the works and it’s one that you probably never expected.
Is Microsoft working on a handheld Xbox console?
According to Windows Central, Microsoft “has been dabbling with Xbox handheld prototypes for some time now.” This piece of information follows the announcement of a new Snapdragon-powered handheld device made possible through a partnership between Qualcomm Technologies and Razer.
During the technology’s reveal, Qualcomm and Razer pointed out how the device could take advantage of Microsoft’s popular gaming services such as the Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The publication claims that the upcoming Qualcomm handheld unit is the perfect way for Microsoft to experiment if it should make a handheld console. If Xbox Cloud Gaming is a success on Razer and Qualcomm’s console, then what’s stopping Microsoft from taking advantage of this fact themselves?
Of course, at the end of the day, it’s best to remember that this is all just speculation. As credible as Windows Central is, you can’t consider anything that they say about an Xbox-focused handheld console as fact. Even if Microsoft is testing out the potential of a handheld console, companies do this all the time.
There’s a huge difference between feeling the market and working on actual prototypes for a product that might see the light of day. The talk of an Xbox handheld console feels much more like the former than the latter.
But, if it does happen, we’re curious to see what it will look like and how it will perform. More importantly, we’re interested to find out if this will encourage Sony to get back into the handheld console market, especially after the reports of Sony’s most recent PlayStation mobile controller patent.
In the meantime, Microsoft’s fans can take advantage of the company’s efforts to improve Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Earlier this year, Microsoft upgraded Cloud Gaming’s servers and made the feature available on consoles.
