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Officially revealed after several leaks, Microsoft has announced another console in the Xbox Series, known as the Xbox Series S. This console is intended to be a more affordable option than the Xbox Series X, while still offering many of the improvements featured in the Series X.
Most notably, the Xbox Series S is only 60% of the size of an Xbox Series X, seen as a more traditional thin rectangle with a large fan output on the side of the console.
Microsoft officially confirmed that the Xbox Series S will release on November 10th, 2020. While not totally confirmed, it is likely that it will launch on the same day as the Xbox Series X console, so that customers can choose the console that meets their needs.
The Xbox Series S will debut at the price of $299, compared to the rumored $499 price of the Xbox Series X. It has also been reported that customers will be able to access a payment plan for the Series S at $25/month.
Revealed by Microsoft, the Xbox Series S will still include many “next gen” features to set it apart from the Xbox One X, though it will lack certain abilities – like a disc drive and the ability to output at native 4K or higher resolutions. The features the Series S will have include:
- Custom NVME SSD 512GB Storage
- 1440p resolution and up to 120FPS
- Ray-Tracing (RTX) Support
- 4K (Media playback and upscaling only)
- Variable Rate Shading
- Variable Refresh Rate
- Ultra-Low Latency
Note that sections marked with an * indicate that these specific features have not been confirmed by Microsoft, and has only been reported by other outlets.
| Feature | Xbox Series X | Xbox Series S |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $499 | $299 |
| Release Date | November 10th, 2020 | November 10th, 2020 |
| Optical Drive | 4K UHD Blu-Ray Drive | None |
| Game DVR | TBA | TBA |
| RAM | 16 GB GDDR6 RAM | 10GB GDDR6 RAM |
| Memory Bandwidth | 10GB at 560GB/s,
6GB at 335GB/s |
8GB at 224GB/s,
2GB @ 56GB/s |
| CPU | 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT) | 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with SMT)* |
| GPU | Custom AMD Radeon RDNA Navi 12 Teraflops, 52 CUs at 1.825GHz – (Supports DirectX Ray Tracing) | Custom AMD Radeon RDNA 4 Teraflops, 20 CUs at 1.55 GHz – (Supports DirectX Ray Tracing)* |
| Video Output | Native 4K, 8K Support, Up to 120hz (120fps) | 1440p, 4K Support through playback or upscaling (120fps) |
| Data Transfer Speed (I/O Throughput) | 2.4GB/s (Raw), 4.8GB/s (Compressed) | 2.4GB/s (Raw)
4.8GB/s (Compressed) |
| Storage | 1 TB NVMe SSD Storage Drive | 512GB NVME SSD Storage Drive |
| External Storage | Seagate Proprietary External 1TB SSD Expansion Card, USB 3.2 HDD Support | Seagate Proprietary External 1TB SSD Expansion Card, USB 3.2 HDD Support* |
| Quick Resume | Support multiple games at once | Support multiple games at once |
| Backwards Compatibility | Xbox One, Xbox 360 games,
Xbox One gaming accessories |
Xbox One, Xbox 360 games,
Xbox One gaming accessories |
| USB | Front: One Type-A USB Port
Rear: 1TB External SSD Slot |
Front: One Type-A USB Port
Rear: 1TB External SSD Slot |
| Web Connection | Ethernet | Ethernet |
| BlueTooth | Yes (Plus Radio Connection for Controllers) | Yes (Plus Radio Connection for Controllers)* |
| A/V Hookups | Native 4K, 8K Support, 2 HDMI 2.1 Ports | HDMI 2.1 Port, Upscaled 4K Support |
