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The Xbox Ally is fairly nice out of the field, no less than should you’re closely within the Xbox ecosystem.
For customers who continuously use Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Play Anywhere titles, or PC Game Pass, the Xbox Ally is a good companion (ally?) for anybody actively in that ecosystem. Things get a little bit blurry if you step exterior of that have, nonetheless. And even inside it, a ton of polish remains to be wanted.
Xbox Ally 2026 updates that we know about
Xbox has already publicly shared a bunch of info about what to expect in terms of updates with the Xbox Ally range. We also know that these updates will emerge on other Windows 11 PC gaming handhelds too over time, including the Lenovo Legion Go and the previous-gen ROG Ally range. What’s a little less clear is exactly when these updates will go live, although some of them are rolling out more gradually, step-by-step.
- Advanced Shader Delivery
The first major feature currently rolling out is per-device pre-compiled shaders. Console users buying an Xbox Ally might have been surprised to see “compiling shaders” loading screens in some games, as many modern PC games create shaders for things like shadows, effects, and lighting tailored to specific hardware. Since PCs represent millions of configurations, many games have no choice but to create the shaders then and there.
Since consoles are fixed hardware, developers know exactly what shaders to pre-compile for those games and package them when the game installs.
Since the Xbox Ally and next-gen Xbox are going to essentially be “pre-defined” console-like hardware, Microsoft is going to begin shipping pre-compiled shaders via the Microsoft Store with “select games.” Gears of War: Reloaded on the Xbox Ally is already using a version of this, but more games should grab this feature over time. Eventually, I think it’s fair to expect any game shipping for the next-gen Xbox will have the shaders pre-compiled already using this delivery system, much like it is on Xbox Series X|S today.
- Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR)
This is potentially the most intriguing entry on the list, although it is sadly exclusive to the more expensive Xbox Ally X.
Using the NPU on the Z2 Extreme AI that comes with the Xbox Ally X, Microsoft is going to ship the first iteration of its AI-powered upscaling tech. What this essentially means is you’ll be able to run games at lower resolutions, more suitable for the portable hardware, while also having an experience closer to what you might expect on a more powerful system. The neural processing unit on the Xbox Ally X will upscale games and boost frame rates for more intensive titles, all without any extra work from developers.
Games that don’t run particularly well on the Xbox Ally X today could end up running a lot better from next year, thanks to this automatic feature.
- New recreation seize options, powered by AI DVR
Microsoft’s Xbox recreation clip recording DVR has been languishing just about deserted on the Xbox Series X|S, however the next-gen model is already getting some distinctive options.
Once once more powered by the NPU, the Xbox Ally X will mechanically analyse and seize “epic” moments and generate spotlight reels out of your gameplay periods to share on social channels.
Personally, I hope this replace comes with wider enhancements to the seize system on the Xbox Ally and Windows 11 on the whole. Right now, it does not mechanically save clips to OneDrive, and should you set the seize folder up as a OneDrive folder, it might probably trigger bizarre synchronicity conflicts. There’s additionally no simple approach to immediately share a clip from the Xbox seize folder with out exiting into the Desktop, which is a ache.
- Xbox Ally will get an enormous TV replace
Towards the beginning of Spring, the Xbox Ally will get an enormous increase to the best way Windows 11 handles exterior HDMI units, corresponding to screens and TVs.
Right now, connecting exterior screens to Windows 11 is a little bit of a multitude with out heavy mouse-first tinkering. It’s actually not “plug and play” on the Xbox Ally like it’s with an Xbox console, and that would want to alter if Windows 11 is the OS for the next-gen Xbox. My Xbox Ally defaulted to “extend this display” reasonably than “duplicate this display,” which eats up efficiency if the monitor is 4K. Figuring by means of all of those idiosyncrasies is an irritant, notably with a controller.
Microsoft says that it is planning to spice up the docking expertise for Xbox Ally {hardware}, boosting controller pairing for sofa gaming, alongside “optimized display output and more.”
- Improvements to Xbox cloud saves
Perhaps my favourite replace of the lot, Xbox will lastly match Steam on a cloud save file sync indicator. Right now, there is no approach to know in case your save file has been loaded to the cloud out of your Xbox or your PC. If you flip off your PC or Xbox too rapidly and you are not in standby mode, typically your save will not add. Or, if there’s an Xbox outage, for instance. This may cause save sync points, the place your model within the cloud is completely different out of your native gadget. This generally is a headache, particularly should you by accident choose to override the fallacious save (talking from expertise.
In addition, Microsoft says the Xbox Ally and Windows on the whole will sync Xbox PC cloud saves extra reliably in coming updates even in low energy states.
- Improvements to MicroSD card recreation storage administration
You can broaden your Xbox Ally storage utilizing a MicroSD card, however the expertise is not notably nice, and it might probably require exiting out to the Desktop to set it up. Microsoft says an improved exterior storage gadget circulation is coming to the Xbox full-screen expertise, too, subsequent yr.
These are all of the updates we learn about, however what else is on the playing cards?
Other Xbox Ally enhancements I hope to see by means of 2026
One issue I tend to struggle with on the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X is general performance. The interface can be quite sluggish even on Turbo Mode, particularly on launch and when closing a game. Navigation can get stuck, and then all your inputs flood through all at once if it lags out. I’d love to see more improvements on this end.
The app could also use a boost in general usability. Right now, there are two separate pages for games — one for the store and one for your library. Both pages have slightly different functionality. Why not just have one page that has both feature sets?
I’m someone who generally fully shuts down my PCs when I’m done with them, but many would like to see Microsoft solve issues around Windows 11’s sleep and hibernation modes. Windows’ “Sleep” feature has been notorious for years for causing issues on wake, and the Xbox Ally is no different. In a PC gaming handheld world where you might want to just save battery without fully turning something off, it should be quick, easy, and painless to set the device into a stand-by state. Right now, it isn’t.
There are mountains of other small issues with Windows 11 as a “gaming” experience that need to be improved, from bloatware to UX. I’d also like to see a bigger uptake in Xbox Play Anywhere from developers, and we have strong evidence that an Xbox November Partner preview event could showcase a boost there, too.
Microsoft certainly has its work cut out. What would YOU like to see improved?
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