According to the typically quite reliable Jez Corden of Windows Central, Xbox has greenlit several pieces of new hardware over the last few weeks.

This little nugget of information comes via The Xbox Two podcast where Jez Corden and Rand Al Thor tackle various subjects, including the most recent evidence that Hi Fi Rush is making its way to Switch and PS5.

During the discussion surrounding the pros and cons of Xbox “exclusives” coming to other platforms, Jez mentions something very interesting. As a response to people claiming that formerly Xbox exclusives heading to other platforms could spend the end for Xbox as a console, Jez said: “For the crowd of fanboys who were like, ‘yeah, this means that Xbox is dying and Xbox hardware is going away, I do know that Xbox has green-lit multiple new hardware projects in the last couple of weeks.”

The instant Internet speculation turned to the idea of some form of Xbox handheld, perhaps in the same vein as the Steamdeck or ROG Ally, both of which have proven very successful. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to see a handheld machine with roughly the power of the Xbox Series S marketed as the perfect way to play Game Pass titles on the move.

Jez certainly seems to think a handheld is possible. Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson wondered aloud on X if Microsoft might be looking into the idea of a handheld device, to which Jez simply replied, “They are.”

Another possibility is Microsoft looking to enter the VR space to compete with Sony’s PSVR2, although I find that one harder to believe. As much as I love VR, the market is growing extremely slowly and the tech is still quite pricey for the average consumer. Sony barely even supports their headset, and while Microsoft certainly has the money on hand to pour into a VR project and absurdly heavy losses to do it, I’m not convinced they would find the idea appealing.

And then there’s the possibility of one of the new pieces of hardware being the next Xbox console. Some rumours have even suggested Microsoft might be looking to leapfrog PlayStation by launching their next console as early as 2026. We also know updated versions of the Series S and Series X are due thanks to documents leaking during Microsoft’s battle against the FTC,