Xbox Handheld Emerges with Original Console Motherboard, Featuring 9-Inch 480p Display, Wi-Fi 6, and 100W USB-C Fast Charging

A talented hardware modder and woodworker known as Redherring32 recently unveiled something that the Xbox community never thought they’d see: the very first handheld Xbox console. This creation wasn’t just some emulation or cheap imitation. It’s built from the actual modified motherboard of an original Xbox console, complete with a 9-inch 480p display. Additionally, it boasts features like Wi-Fi 6 for seamless Xbox Live connectivity and a 100W PD USB-C port for fast charging.

This mod is a remarkable feat within the Xbox community, marking the first true conversion of an Xbox into a handheld device. While we’ve seen plenty of PlayStation and Nintendo console modifications in the past, nothing quite like this has emerged for Xbox until now.

With ongoing discussions about a possible official handheld Xbox console—despite the fact that devices like the Steam Deck already cater to that niche—it’s somewhat amusing that an avid enthusiast beat Microsoft to it. Should a handheld Xbox be in the pipeline, it would likely focus on the latest gaming advancements rather than the original Xbox’s nostalgic 480p landscape. Notably, the original Xbox has been modified before to run Halo 2 at a higher 720p resolution.

Regardless, Redherring32’s commitment to fitting the original Xbox into a portable format is nothing short of spectacular. In a detailed Twitter thread, the intricate process is laid out, including the precision trimming of the Xbox motherboard and the creation of 12 unique PCBs designed specifically for this project.

There’s also a GitHub page in the works where Redherring32 plans to share all the PCB sources once everything is finalized, making the project completely open-source. A video demonstration and gameplay footage are expected to follow soon, though they had yet to be released at the time of this writing.

While this marks the first ambitious Xbox modification of this kind, the practice of shrinking down home consoles isn’t entirely new. Redherring32 has some prior experience in this area, having previously developed both “TinyTendo” and “PicoPad”—an open-source handheld NES and the smallest NES controller in the world, respectively.

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