Xbox Ally 2026 update roadmap — Improvements for gaming on Windows 11 and next-gen Xbox in detail

The Xbox Ally is pretty great out of the box, at least if you're heavily in the Xbox ecosystem.

For users who frequently use Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Play Anywhere titles, or PC Game Pass, the Xbox Ally is a great companion (ally?) for anyone actively in that ecosystem. Things get a little blurry when you step outside of that experience, however. And even within it, a ton of polish is still needed.

Whether it's pre-installed, unnecessary apps like Microsoft Teams, hours upon hours of out-of-the-box updates, or inconsistencies in things like text inputs and controller navigation can frustrate the experience.

Microsoft and its Xbox and Windows 11 teams are working flat out to polish up what is already, honestly, quite a great experience, but there's a ton of work yet to be done.

Thankfully, Microsoft has already shared what its plans are for the Xbox Ally in the near-term. Since we know that the next Xbox console is essentially going to sport this same Windows 11 PC gaming experience, you can take this as the developmental OS roadmap for the next-gen Xbox as well.

Here's what's coming to the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X between now and through 2026.

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

Xbox Ally / Xbox Ally X Review — From someone who actually uses Xbox. - YouTube

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3. New game capture features, powered by AI DVR

Microsoft's Xbox game clip recording DVR has been languishing virtually abandoned on the Xbox Series X|S, but the next-gen version is already getting some unique features.

Once again powered by the NPU, the Xbox Ally X will automatically analyse and capture "epic" moments and generate highlight reels from your gameplay sessions to share on social channels.

Personally, I hope this update comes with wider improvements to the capture system on the Xbox Ally and Windows 11 in general. Right now, it doesn't automatically save clips to OneDrive, and if you set the capture folder up as a OneDrive folder, it can cause weird synchronicity conflicts. There's also no easy way to directly share a clip from the Xbox capture folder without exiting into the Desktop, which is a pain.

4. Xbox Ally will get a big TV update

Towards the start of Spring, the Xbox Ally will get a big boost to the way Windows 11 handles external HDMI devices, such as monitors and TVs.

Right now, connecting external monitors to Windows 11 is a bit of a mess without heavy mouse-first tinkering. It's certainly not "plug and play" on the Xbox Ally like it is with an Xbox console, and that would need to change if Windows 11 is the OS for the next-gen Xbox. My Xbox Ally defaulted to "extend this display" rather than "duplicate this display," which eats up performance if the monitor is 4K. Figuring through all of these idiosyncrasies is an irritant, particularly with a controller.

Microsoft says that it's planning to boost the docking experience for Xbox Ally hardware, boosting controller pairing for couch gaming, alongside "optimized display output and more."

5. Improvements to Xbox cloud saves

Perhaps my favorite update of the lot, Xbox will finally match Steam on a cloud save file sync indicator. Right now, there's no way to know if your save file has been loaded to the cloud from your Xbox or your PC. If you turn off your PC or Xbox too quickly and you're not in standby mode, sometimes your save won't upload. Or, if there's an Xbox outage, for example. This can cause save sync issues, where your version in the cloud is different from your local device. This can be a headache, especially if you accidentally select to override the wrong save (speaking from experience.

In addition, Microsoft says the Xbox Ally and Windows in general will sync Xbox PC cloud saves more reliably in coming updates even in low power states.

6. Improvements to MicroSD card game storage management

You can expand your Xbox Ally storage using a MicroSD card, but the experience isn't particularly great, and it can require exiting out to the Desktop to set it up. Microsoft says an improved external storage device flow is coming to the Xbox full-screen experience, too, next year.

These are all the updates we know about, but what else is on the cards?

Other Xbox Ally improvements I hope to see through 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?

Microsoft has also been rolling out improvements to Xbox Cloud Gaming, with more and more games supporting the new 1440p 60FPS format found on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. We should see more of these over time. One slightly strange collateral issue of Xbox Cloud Gaming getting better is that ... Xbox Remote Play is now noticeably worse. Cloud Gaming now seems to offer better resolution and frame rates than Xbox Remote Play, which doesn't make sense given the Xbox Series X|S would literally be in your house. Hopefully, Microsoft can improve this.

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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