According to a new rumor, the next Xbox console is releasing in 2026. The rumor comes the way of Brad Sams, the original Xbox insider before the business of information was flooded with industry insiders and leakers. Typically, he’s a pretty reliable source. Unfortunately, he does not disclose a specific release date, but typically Xbox releases hardware in the fall and holiday season. Further, much like every source on this right now, Sams is not completely confident on whether or not this is a brand new, next-gen Xbox console or just a more powerful version of the Xbox Series X.
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According to a plethora of rumors, Sony is working on a PS5 Pro, and it may arrive as early as next year, though a 2025 release is certainly on the table. Whatever the case, this would be two years or a year before this mystery Xbox console. So, if this is just a more powerful Xbox Series X, it is odd it is coming so late. If it takes until 2026 for Microsoft to release a more powerful Xbox Series X, it dropped the ball. In this respect, it makes more sense for this to be the next-gen Xbox, however, there are reasons why this doesn’t make sense either.
According to official Microsoft documents that leaked this year, the next proper Xbox console is coming out in 2028, so either this date has been moved up dramatically since the creation of that document or this mystery machine is a more powerful version of the Xbox Series X.
Unfortunately, right now all we have are rumors and speculation, all of which should be taken with a grain of salt. As you would expect, Microsoft has not had a peep to say about any of this. And we don’t anticipate this changing, but if this expectation is bucked and it does, we will be sure to update the story with whatever it has to say, salient or not. In the meantime, and as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. What would you rather see in 2026: a new Xbox Series X or the next-gen Xbox?
