Xbox Handheld: What I Want to See From Microsoft’s Portable Console

Earlier this week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer once again mentioned that an Xbox handheld is potentially in the works, but that it is still a few years out. While that timeline sucks, it does mean Microsoft has time to really make it into something awesome that can compete with top-end handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally X.

What we do know is that Phil Spencer has gone on record saying he “think(s) being able to play games locally is really important”, which suggests that any Xbox handheld that comes out won’t follow the same playbook as the PlayStation Portal, which could only play games streamed from your PS5. Unfortunately, that’s about all we really know about what the handheld console would actually be, but that doesn’t mean I can’t sit here and dream about what I’d like to see out of a potential Xbox handheld, even if I do have to wait a couple years to get my hands on it.

Run Windows, But Make it Controller-Friendly

Let’s face it, Xbox consoles become more like Windows 11 every single day – hell, there’s even ads on the home screen now – so why not go all the way and make the presumptive Xbox handheld run Windows 11. This would open up the platform to hundreds of games that the Xbox Series X simply can’t run, plus, it would allow (or force) Microsoft to create a version of Windows 11 that’s navigable with a controller.

Microsoft has certainly created weird one-off UIs for Windows before. After all, this is the same company that created Windows RT, plus versions of Windows 7 and 8 that ran on Windows phones – remember those? It could be argued that all of those disparate versions of Windows were complete disasters, but as long as it’s optional, it could be a great way for Microsoft to get more Windows users, while also letting people that don’t like navigating a traditional desktop ignore the more arcane elements of Windows 11.

Make the Gamepad-Friendly Windows UI Downloadable on Any System

If Microsoft makes its Xbox handheld a Windows device with a gamepad-friendly UI – and that’s a big if – it would be super cool if it would also make it available for anyone to implement on their gaming PCs. I personally have a gaming PC set up in my living room, and I have to have a keyboard and mouse nearby to use it, especially when I’m trying to play a game that’s not on Steam. A controller-friendly Windows UI would do wonders there. It would also make using handheld gaming PCs much easier, now that more of them come running Windows 11.

Manufacturers like Asus and Lenovo have created ways to navigate the operating system with the controllers, but they’re not awesome. Essentially, both of them have ways to emulate mouse input when you’re interacting with the desktop. This works most of the time, but there have definitely been times where it’s stopped working for one reason or another and I’ve had to fumble around with a touchscreen, and Windows 11 is notoriously awful for touch displays. I’m no engineer, so I don’t know how hard it’d be to implement, but I’d love to have a toggle somewhere in Windows 11 settings to enable a ‘controller mode.’

Don’t Lock It Down to the Windows Store or Xbox Store

The main reason an Xbox handheld running on Windows 11 instead of a standalone operating system would be appealing is because it’d let you run whatever you wanted, rather than just what’s on the Xbox Store. Letting people play any game they own on Steam, Epic, or one of the countless PC gaming platforms would be incredible. I don’t know about you, but these days, I just want to play my game on whatever device I’m using at any given moment, and the more open the Xbox handheld’s OS is, the more it’ll let me do that.

Microsoft has already indulged my need to play games on a billion little devices with its Play Anywhere program that essentially lets you buy a game on PC and then play it on Xbox Series X, with your saves carrying over. The problem is that it only supports certain first-party games.

Even if Microsoft has it locked to the Xbox store by default, at least give us access to the BIOS so we can install an unlocked version of Windows ourselves. It took Microsoft a few years to learn that lesson with Windows 10S and RT, let’s hope that it applies those lessons to the Xbox handheld, too.

Quick Resume

The one thing that keeps me playing games on the Xbox Series X instead of my gaming PC is Quick Resume. There’s something to be said about having multiple games that are essentially suspended, that you can swap between at will. This is awesome when you’re stuck on a boss and you want to take a break with a different game, then come back with a clear head without losing any progress. I want that on Windows, especially for a handheld system.

Most of the time, when you put a gaming PC in sleep mode while it’s running a game, that game will still be running when you wake it up. This is essentially what happens when you tap the power button on your ROG Ally. However, it’s not perfect, and there are times where things will break in your game when you wake your system from sleep. So, the capability is technically there for something like Quick Resume, it would just need to be implemented.

Wait for More Powerful Hardware

While the AMD Z1 Extreme is awesome for handheld gaming PCs, we’re still waiting for AMD to create a next-generation version of it. What makes the Z1 special is that it’s specially engineered for the needs of a handheld gaming system. It has awesome graphics performance, but doesn’t draw too much power, allowing you to play games on battery for a few hours. The trade-off, though, is that it’s not great at moving above 1080p on medium settings in most games.

The AMD Z1 Extreme is using a Zen 4 CPU core, along with an RDNA 3 GPU core. We already have Zen 5 processors on the market, like the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, but we’re still waiting for RDNA 4 to show up. With how late in the year we are, my bet is that AMD will show off its next-generation graphics tech at CES 2025. If that happens, we should see the Z2, or its equivalent, some time in mid-to-late 2025.

Microsoft being Microsoft, though, it’s entirely possible that it could work with a chipmaker like AMD to create custom silicon to bring the Xbox handheld to the next level, which would make it stand out in a market that’s becoming increasingly saturated with new handhelds all the time.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra