Microsoft’s VP of ‘Next Generation’ says changes are coming this year.

Last January at CES, Microsoft chief marketing officer Yusuf Mehdi declared 2024 the “year of the AI PC.” And whether you believe that prediction came true or not—many new PCs come with AI-accelerating neural processing units onboard, but far from all of them—you can't deny that Microsoft did try very hard to make it happen.

Microsoft has said that it plans to bring the best of Xbox and Windows gaming experiences for handheld devices.

The last time I tried playing games on Windows handhelds, it was a weird process. For all the flexibility of Windows and the freedom to run multiple app stores and customize however you'd like, a lot of things act weirdly and are very hit-and-miss.

While an Xbox Handheld direct from Microsoft might be a ways out, the operating system to power those changes is coming sooner than you think.