For a few days, there have been some online rumblings that a Top Gear video posted by the BBC may have revealed a glimpse of a new mobile Xbox user interface experience. Unfortunately, it looks like Microsoft has slammed those rumors shut.
The Top Gear video itself shows a demo of the upcoming Rimac Robotaxi, which is supposed to let people just jump in and be taken to their destination by this self-driving car. Around the 10:07 minute mark, the large screen for this car shows what looks like an Xbox window with a Fortnite image.
Later at the 10:50 mark in that same video, the entire media screen seems to switch completely to this Xbox user interface, first with an Xbox logo screen and then with the UI showing game cards for Fortnite, The Finals, and Halo Infinite.
There was some thought that this video was a preview of a Microsoft-developed Xbox UI made for mobile devices. However, Eurogamer did receive a note from a Microsoft spokesperson which highly suggests this dashboard was made by Rimac itself to demo the media screen for the Robotaxi:
"We currently have no plans for an Xbox Rimac dashboard," an Xbox spokesperson said. "For more information about this mockup video, please reach out to the Rimac team."
While this may not be a Microsoft-created user interface for a future Xbox mobile device, the company did release Compact Mode for its Xbox PC app in November 2023. The mode, which collapses the app's side bar into icons was made for the growing number of Windows 11-based portable gaming PCs like the ASUS ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go, among others.
Recently, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer was asked in an interview about the possibility of a handheld Xbox. He stated, "So we should have a handheld. I think we should have a handheld, too.". However, he stopped just short of saying such a device was actually in development.
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