Xbox Next console confirmed, will be "largest technical leap ever seen"

Xbox finally broke its silence yesterday after a couple of weeks of loud speculation, making a series of announcements during a special episode of its official podcast.

The podcast saw the brand's leadership team discussing its plans for the future of Xbox, reacting to leaks and rumours about Xbox-exclusive games coming out on PS5 or Nintendo Switch.

Alongside confirming those plans with some interesting caveats, the team also mentioned a very important factor - that it is currently working on the next generation of Xbox console. 

Xbox president Sarah Bond said that the aim is to deliver "the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation", which sounds pretty ambitious, albeit the sort of thing that most console generations get labelled with. 

This counters some persistent rumours that Xbox might have been considering a step back from the hardware side of its business after a change in ideas at Microsoft. 

Instead, we'll definitely be getting another generation of Xbox at some point, although it's likely this is still a few years off. 

Intriguingly, Bond also mentioned that Xbox has "some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we’re going to share this holiday", which many people have taken to indicate that Xbox has a handheld on the way. 

Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has been laying what some have seen as a breadcrumb trail on this front with recent likes of posts on X (formerly Twitter), and given Xbox's "play anywhere" approach, it seems like an obvious next step.

Even PlayStation now has its own PS5 handheld in the form of the PlayStation Portal, even if its functionality is somewhat limited to in-home use. 

Whether this is a Steam Deck-style portable gaming handheld with real heft and onboard specs, or a cloud streaming option to trounce the third-party devices on the market, it sounds like we'll learn more before the end of the year. 

Finally, we now know that four Xbox exclusives are in development for PS5 and Switch - the Xbox team didn't confirm which these are, but there are multiple reports indicating the lineup will be Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush and Grounded.