Is the Next Xbox Being Manufactured?

<p>If rumors are to be believed&comma; the next Xbox console is already being manufactured at the Austin&comma; Texas branch of Flextronics&period; This is the same company that is currently assembling the current Xbox hardware&comma; and the original Xbox&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Prior to the manufacturing stage&comma; Flextronix created a testing group that was separate from the company&period; The team’s sole purpose was a comprehensive marketing&comma; software&comma; and hardware test the next Xbox&period; When those steps were finished&comma; the team started working on the hardware&period; Just because hardware is being manufactured does not mean we will be seeing the Durango soon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The more likely scenario is that the new hardware is development kits&comma; consoles created specifically so game designers know what they are working with&period; Microsoft has stated blatantly that it was not going to debut any new consoles at E3&comma; so the rumors regarding newly manufactured boxes most likely will not lead to a reveal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It does make sense to assume that if the Durango is to see a retail release anytime in the next few years that work on new hardware is underway now&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>IGN reached out to Microsoft and Flextronics for comment&period; While Flextronics provided no comment&comma; Microsoft issued the following statement&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend its lifecycle like introducing the world to controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships&period; We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention&period; Beyond that we do not comment on rumors or speculation&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>While it is certainly possible that the next Xbox is currently being assembled without any official word from Microsoft&comma; everything is left to speculation&period; Stay with us as we report more on the subject&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lpar;Via <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ign&period;com&sol;articles&sol;2012&sol;05&sol;03&sol;is-microsoft-already-manufacturing-the-next-xbox">IGN<&sol;a>&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;