While Microsoft’s attempts at creating a handheld Xbox has been something of an open secret for some time now, we now have our first look at Project Kennan – a collaboration between Microsoft and Asus for a handheld gaming system. The look, as caught by 91mobile (courtesy of VideoCardz), comes courtesy of leaked photos through the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the form of a pair of photos for a black model and a white one.
Speculation notes that the black model is more likely to be Project Kennan, while the white one will be a regular successor to the ROG Ally line-up.
Going by the photos, the handheld shares a striking resemblance with the other handheld gaming PC by Asus – the ROG Ally and its various versions. Of note is the fact that the buttons flanking the display share similar shapes and size to what we’ve seen from the ROG Ally before. Interestingly, there is an additional button to the left of the display close to the left analogue stick, which is likely the Xbox Guide button that we see on Xbox controllers.
The grips for the system are another place where we get to see a difference from the ROG Ally. Whereas Asus’ own console bears a form factor more typical of what you would see from a portable gaming system, Project Kennan from the photos seems to have a more ergonomic design, with grips shaped like they would be on a more standard controller. The ROG branding is also quite prominently present on both the white and the black systems.
More photographs, discovered by 91mobiles also reveal some of the hardware that will power both of the handhelds. The Black model will run off an 8-core AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip with a TDP of 36 W, and will feature LPDDR5-8533 memory. The white model, on the other hand, will run on the 4-core AMD Aerith Plus, with a TDP of 20 W.
Word about Microsoft prototyping a handheld Xbox has been going around since at least March 2024. The handheld system is described as being able to play games natively rather than making use of Xbox Cloud. More recent rumours from earlier this year indicate that we will be seeing an Xbox-branded handheld system hit store shelves later this year.
The rumour also indicated that the Xbox branding will go beyond just slapping a logo on the machine, and its design will instead make use of “Xbox design sensibilities,” which includes the addition of an Xbox guide button. Much like other gaming products by Microsoft, Project Kennan is also said to be running on a version of Windows modified to play games. This would also likely mean that we’ll see support for Game Pass on the system.
Along with this, rumorus also indicate that Microsoft might be preparing to launch a successor to its Xbox Series X/S consoles in 2027. While details haven’t yet been revealed, the company has reportedly greenlit the project, and R&D is likely well underway for the next generation console.