The price of the next Microsoft (MSFT.US) Xbox handheld computer may start at 1,200 US dollars. The high price may be difficult to accept

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to reports, Microsoft (MSFT.US) is planning to launch the next generation of Xbox handheld devices for the 2027 holiday season and launch subsequent models during the 2028 holiday season, which will cost between $1,200 and $1,800, unless there is some kind of subsidy. Chris Ciaccia (Chris Ciaccia), a senior technology analyst at Seeking Alpha, believes that this expected price poses a challenge even for a company the size of Microsoft.

“It's more expensive than some computers and some laptops,” Chachia said, adding that this kind of pricing “is a big pill that's hard to swallow, even for a company with a balance sheet like Microsoft.”

He pointed out that although Microsoft and Sony (SONY.US) have historically subsidized the listing of consoles to offset manufacturing costs, a handheld that costs 1,200-1,800 US dollars may require the company to lower specifications or continue efforts to reduce costs.

Looking ahead to Microsoft's upcoming earnings report, Chachya said in the above podcast that investors will pay close attention to Azure cloud growth and AI monetization.

“Given the current position of the stock price, any increase below the 40% mid-range could hit the stock price,” he said. At the same time, he stressed that Microsoft 365 and Copilot need to show improved monetization capabilities compared to AI competitors such as Google (GOOGL.US) Gemini and Anthropic Claude.