Next Xbox Goes Ultra-Premium—Look to the Xbox Ally Handheld for Clues
It’s official: the next Xbox is coming, ending months of speculation and signaling Microsoft’s next big play in console gaming.
Xbox is talking about its next console again, and yeah, my first thought was: how much is this thing going to cost? After a string of PR missteps and a run of price hikes, the messaging around the new box is back — and it sure sounds fancy. Maybe a little too fancy for my wallet.
What Xbox just said
Xbox president Sarah Bond did a new interview with Mashable and confirmed, again, that a next-gen Xbox is in the works. The headline, though, is how she framed it. Asked about blending a gaming console with PC-style flexibility, she leaned into that idea and described the new machine like this:
"I can tell you that you're right, that the next-gen console is gonna be a very premium, very high-end, curated experience. You're starting to see some of the thinking that we have in [the Xbox ROG Ally handheld], but I don't want to give it all away."
Couple things worth unpacking there. One, that is Xbox signaling a top-shelf device, not a budget play. Two, invoking the ROG Ally family — Windows handhelds Xbox has been very cozy with — points straight at a more PC-forward mindset. Quick clarification so nobody gets confused: the ROG Ally is made by Asus, not Microsoft, but Xbox has been happy to spotlight it, and the upgraded ROG Ally X is the pricey, premium one in that lineup.
Why the wording set off alarm bells
Context matters here. Over the last year, Microsoft raised prices on both hardware and subscriptions, and there have been reports that even dev kits got more expensive. So when the top Xbox exec describes the next console as a 'very premium, very high-end, curated experience' and nods to a handheld line whose fanciest model sits at the expensive end of the market, it paints a picture: expect a luxury device, not an every-home box.
She also didn’t shy away from the idea of a console that behaves more like a gaming PC — flexible, powerful, and, historically, not cheap. None of this is a price announcement, obviously. But when the vibe is premium-plus and the recent trend line is upward, it’s hard not to start bracing for a sticker that could creep into four-digit territory.
Where this leaves us
- Next-gen Xbox is officially in development, per Sarah Bond.
- Positioning is clear: premium, high-end, and curated — with thinking that overlaps with Windows handhelds like the ROG Ally.
- Recent Xbox moves include hardware and subscription price increases; there have also been reports of higher dev kit costs.
- No specs, no release window, and crucially, no price yet — but the tone suggests this won’t be a bargain box.
Could Microsoft still surprise us with a more approachable model alongside a flagship? Sure. But until they say otherwise, I’m preparing my bank account for a console that thinks it’s a boutique PC and is priced to match.