Xbox touts new consoles, teases handhelds

The Xbox showcase had more than games on hand. During the event, president Sarah Bond unveiled a new trio of consoles launching during the holiday season.

Both the Xbox Series X and S will receive white, all-digital versions with 1TB hard drives, priced respectively at $449 and $349. The Series X will also get a special edition console in black that comes with 2TB of space and costs $599.

Additionally, Xbox stressed these new consoles have "the same speed and performance" as their predecessors.

Price-wise, these new consoles are roughly in line with the original $499/$299 pricing of the Series X|S at launch. Unlike the newer iterations of the PlayStation 5 from late last year, it doesn't appear Microsoft is phasing out the original versions of these systems.

Last year, Xbox head Phil Spencer advocated for the Series S as an alternative for those with less income for a Series X. While this new Series S costs more, it puts the system closer to parity with its sibling console, albeit at the cost of being unable to play discs.

Handhelds may finally be in Xbox's future

Separately from the showcase, Spencer spoke of a potential Xbox handheld. Reports began circulating before the weekend, and he indicated to IGN such a device may exist.

"I think we should have a handheld too," said Spencer. "The future for us in hardware is pretty awesome. We will have a time to come out and talk more about platform, and we can't wait to bring it to you."

Of the big three console makers, Microsoft is the only one that's yet to enter the handheld space. At most, Xbox Game Pass (or its Cloud add-on) has been accessible on other handhelds, so an official device from Microsoft would be a significant step.

When asked further, he implied the potential hardware would be a proper handheld like the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch. As someone who likes the former and the recent ROG Ally, he said the ability to play games locally is "really important."