Microsoft has already announced that the company is working on a new console, and rumours about the new Xbox have already started to surface. Xbox chief Phil Spencer confirmed that the company is already “deep into architecture the next Xbox consoles”. No other detail about the console was revealed by Spencer, however, online rumours suggest otherwise.

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Brad Sams from thurrott.com reported that the next-gen Xbox is reportedly set to arrive in 2010. According to Sams, Microsoft is working on a “family of devices” that is being developed under the code name “Scarlett”. This is in line with Spencer's mention of “consoles” and not a singular device. 

No other details about the different devices were revealed, however, it could be possible that Microsoft may launch a streaming device. Microsoft has already announced that the company is investing in the future with game streaming and cloud gaming. We aren't entirely sure what the other devices might be, as the company has been known to launch an Xbox with peripherals like the Kinect.

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There's a very high chance that the new Xbox console will also support backward compatibility, as it is one of the marquee features on the Xbox One. Microsoft has been able to bring the Xbox 360 library to its current generation of consoles and it wouldn't be far-fetched to see the same feature on next-gen consoles.

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It's a known fact that the biggest competitor for the Xbox is Sony's PlayStation 4, that has been selling remarkably well and has the upper hand since the initial launch. Microsoft has proven to its fans, that the company is capable of producing a superior console as the company launched the Xbox One X last year. However, Microsoft is plagued by the absence of exclusive games which has been the core feature for Sony's PlayStation 4. 

Having said that, if this rumour is true, Microsoft is already planning to spark the next-gen console war by launching new consoles in 2020. Microsoft plans to have an edge by launching the next iteration of the Xbox earlier than Sony, which as a tactic, has proved to work before for the software giant. 

Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 a full year before the PlayStation 3 and managed to win the console war last generation. As of now, this is pure speculation based on rumours that cannot be confirmed, even though it sounds like a familiar strategy. 

This strategy may be the last resort for the Xbox brand, as Sony keeps launching exclusive games like 'God of War' and 'The Last Of Us 2' which makes Xbox fans jump ship.