Microsoft is reportedly planning an Xbox handheld for the 2027 holiday season, with its next-generation console to follow in the 2028 holidays.
The dates come from Fortune, which says the handheld is a "next-generation handheld device." The console, codenamed Project Helix, would arrive a year after it. Fortune's reporting does not say whether Microsoft would build the handheld itself or hand the job to a manufacturer such as Asus.
That question has a recent precedent. Xbox partnered with Asus on the Xbox Ally devices, which ran a modified version of Windows 11 with an Xbox mode switched on. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has also described Project Helix as a "family of devices," which suggests the next Xbox may not be a single box.
The 2028 date is the part with the most context behind it. The Xbox Series X and Series S launched in November 2020, so a holiday 2028 console would land about eight years later. The previous gap, from the Xbox One in November 2013 to the Series X and S, was seven years.