On Monday, Microsoft announced "Project Scorpio," a new, much more powerful version of the Xbox One coming in late 2017. This, and comments from Xbox head Phil Spencer earlier this year, led to speculation that the Xbox would eventually work more like a smartphone, in which customers buy a new, slightly more powerful version of the device every year or two.
In an interview with Wired, Spencer clarified that he didn't see a smartphone-like release schedule in the Xbox's future. Instead, he implied that Scorpio would come out when it does to ensure that Xbox games are compatible with 4K, the ultra-high resolution that more and more devices and televisions are supporting.
"Consumer expectation is that, if you wanted to, you could go buy a new cellphone every year," Spencer told Wired. "I don't want to get into that mode with a console. I see the next inflection point as 4K, and I want to make sure we have a console there to support that, and Scorpio will do that. We're not on a hardware tick-tock that says I need to put out a console every two years or every one year to get people to upgrade. That's not the console model."
Another important thing to note in the Wired interview is the issue of game compatibility between Xbox One consoles. While the initial Scorpio announcement emphasized the fact that all games would be playable on all versions of the Xbox One, that doesn't seem to be technically true. Scorpio will be able to play VR games, while the lesser versions of the Xbox One will not.
Still, it's good to know that Microsoft doesn't plan to adopt a smartphone release schedule for the Xbox One. That works for phones because they're everyday devices that people carry with them and need to use on a regular basis, and they become more powerful as our needs for them grow. Video game consoles are entertainment devices, and nobody wants to buy a new Xbox more than once every five years or so.