- Microsoft brings a massive update to its Xbox Windows 11 app to its new ROG XBOX ALLY handheld
- The new “full -screen experience” will help streamline games for handheld users with a portable friendly user interface
- It comes to other Windows 11 handhelds in 2026
Microsoft has investigated ways to improve the gaming experience for handheld users after the recent reception and high praise that Valve’s Steamos has received for his benefits over Windows 11 – and it seems that Microsoft has taken its first big leap by doing so.
As reported by The Verge, ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X will have a new “Xbox Full-Screen Experience” that provides a streamlined handheld-friendly gaming user interface, which will also make its way to other Windows 11-Handmons in 2026. Playcases will be available via the Xbox Apple update.
It has long arrived since handheld users have longed for an improved portable version of Windows 11 for games similar to Valves Steamos; The idea is to create a simple start-up-and-playing experience without navigating to other lifting rockets to find games. In essence, this creates an all-in-one hub for games and removes many of the frequent Windows pop-ups and notifications.
The biggest question is perhaps the influence it will have on performance and whether this will match steamos or surpass it. In addition to Windows 11’s disadvantages of ease of use, the benefit is currently the second strong appeal of Steamos for handheld users.
Fortunately, Xbox’s software technical manager, Brianna Potvin, claimed that 2 GB of memory goes back into play while we are in the new full-screen mode and it is expected that we will see further improvement when available to ROG Xbox Ally.
Analysis: Handheld games in 2026 and above look bright
With the MSI Claw A8 using AMDS Ryzen Z2 Extreme and ROG Xbox Ally using Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, both planned to launch this year, it is a strong indication that 2026 and above can be great for handheld players.
MSI has already left a strong impression with its Claw 8 AI+, which shows efficiency with ideal game performance results on a 17W TDP – and that is all possible thanks to Intel’s core Ultra 7 258V processor. Team Reds Z2 Extreme Processors (especially the AI version) is expected to challenge Lunar Lake Soc, all while expecting Panther Lake and Medusa Point, which come from Intel and AMD respectively to push things further.
Both ROG Xbox Ally and Claw A8 will also not be the only Z2-extreme-based handheld as we are still waiting for Lenovo Legion Go 2.
The more handhelds there are, the better and I am glad to see how these mobile processors can go to give high -level game performance.
