Perhaps that headline is a little misleading; you can stand the Xbox One vertically if you want, it’s just that if you do so, it might break.
"We don’t support vertical orientation; do it at your own risk," Albert Panello, Xbox senior director of product management and planning told Gamespot.
"It wouldn’t be a cooling problem," Panello continued, "we just didn’t design the drive for vertical. Because it’s a slot loading drive, we just didn’t design it for both".
via
Xbox One Can't Be Stood Vertically - NowGamer.