The next Xbox could be released next year, says AMD
by Tuffcub · tsaAMD, the makers of the System-on-a-Chip (SoC) technology that powers the current Xbox and PlayStation consoles, have rather casually revealed that the next Xbox could be released as early as next year.
The information was revealed during the company’s Q4 2025 earnings call when AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su said “Development of Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox featuring an AMD semi-custom SoC is progressing well to support a launch in 2027.”
It is important to note that the good Doctor only said they could support “a” launch rather than “the” launch, but other leaks have suggested that Microsoft are aiming for next year, one would assume sometime near Christmas as usual.
What form the next Xbox will take is the subject of intense speculation. While they are clearly talking to AMD about some powerful hardware, documents revealed during the FTC trial when Microsoft purchased Activision revealed that they were aiming for a “hybrid console”. This could suggest a move towards streaming games that run off powerful server farms rather than having a top-range console at home. There are also concerns over the huge price increases in RAM and GPUs, a high-powered next Xbox could be very expensive, whereas a streaming machine would require less under the hood and would boost sales of Xbox Games Pass.
The idea of Microsoft even making a new console could raise a few eyebrows, it is fair to say they have been absolutely thrashed by PlayStation and Nintendo this generation. Console sales, meagre as they are, have had a 32% decline year-on-year. While never specifically stated, the low sales of Xbox consoles are clearly a contributing factor to Microsoft’s decision to start releasing its exclusive franchises, such as Forza, Fable, and Halo, on PlayStation.
Xbox, and indeed PlayStation, also have the same issue as other tech manufacturers, such as Apple, in that it is much harder for customers to perceive any major changes between generations. It seems obvious that the next-gen consoles will run at 4K with decent frame rates, but apart from looking a bit prettier, there’s not much they can add. We already have SDD drives for fast loading, haptic feedback, and Dolby 3D Audio, and it’s not like the console manufacturers can do something snazzy like making the console fold in half like a phone.
Which brings us back to the idea of a hybrid console. Could the next Xbox be a portable device with a dock for playing at home? Microsoft have certainly been exploring that area and it would keep costs down, boost sales of Game Pass, and give them a much-needed selling point to attract customers.
Source: TomsHardware