Windows Might Be Adding A New UI For The ASUS Xbox Handheld

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There's a lot of talk about the ASUS Xbox handheld right now, and that's no surprise considering it was teased last night by the company - it's all but confirmed at this point.

We don't know really know anything about it yet though - aside from that it's going to be similar to an ASUS ROG Ally and will seemingly place a big focus on Xbox Play Anywhere compatibility. But what about the interface? If this is going to be a Windows-based handheld, is it going to suffer with the same issues that have plagued them in the past?

Well, it was reported a while ago that the ASUS Xbox Handheld would probably a feature a "console-like" interface, and now a couple of strings in the latest Windows 11 development build appear to have confirmed this.

As reported by both Xeno Panther and Windows Central, the following strings are mentioned:

https://bsky.app/profile/xenopanther.bsky.social%2Fpost%2F3llqktxfhjk2o

Windows Central: The references included are "Boot into the Full screen experience at device startup" and "Choose your Full screen experience," which might imply that there may be multiple different game-focused interfaces to choose from. Windows Central can confirm that both strings are present.

This obviously would be a massive benefit to the ASUS Xbox handheld, and if it's introduced alongside the device at launch, it's going to make it stand out compared to what we've seen from Windows handhelds in the past. That's not to say they couldn't benefit from it too, but it's going to look particularly great on an Xbox-branded device.

Let's see what comes of this, shall we? ASUS is clearly keen to make us all aware of this thing, and with the Switch 2 reveal taking place this week, it's going to be interesting to see how they time the full reveal. Can't wait too long!