Handheld consoles are the industry's next battleground | Opinion
With both Microsoft and Sony planning portable launches down the line, and Switch and Steam Deck defining their respective markets, gaming's future seems to be handheld
Only a week or two after confirmation that Microsoft is working on a handheld Xbox device, we now have reports that Sony is also in the early stages of developing a new portable device – its first foray into this market since the discontinuation of the ill-fated PS Vita five years ago.
With a successor to the Nintendo Switch on the horizon and the burgeoning PC handheld space energised by the success of the Steam Deck, it's fair to ask if we're about to enter a new golden age for handheld gaming – a sector that many people wrote off entirely when smartphone games soared in popularity in the 2010s.
The caveat here is that both Sony and Microsoft are in the very early stages of planning their handheld devices, and to some degree both companies appear to be waiting for technology to catch up to their ambitions.
