Summary
Microsoft has released three new iterations of itsXbox Series X/Sconsoles, offering more storage, a discless option, a new special edition system, and several other intrinsic improvements. While the platform holder doesn’t have a rival to Sony’s upcoming PS5 Pro, these newXboxvariants do fill a lot of gaps in Microsoft’s current-generation console lineup.
Four years into their lifecycles, the approaches employed for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have deviated quite a bit. Sony has regularly madesmall revisions to the PS5, whether it be more efficient SoCs, cooling system optimizations, a handier vertical stand, or the redesigned PS5 Slim that was released last year. The Xbox Series X/S consoles, meanwhile, have remained exactly the same since they launched back in holiday 2020. New storage options and colors were introduced, but the Xbox console lineup hasn’t changed at a core level.
Now, Microsoft is addingthree new consoles to the Xbox Series X/S family. These were first announced during this summer’s Xbox Games Showcase, and are now available for purchase. The headliner is theGalaxy Black Xbox Series X, a 2TB special edition console sporting a bespoke black-and-green color scheme and white specks intended to mimic the cosmos. This is followed by a newwhite all-digital 1TB Series X, and finally awhite 1TB Series S. While these may just look like surface level changes, there’s a lot more going on here internally, at least for the Series X consoles.
New Xbox Series X/S Models and Pricing
Xbox Series X New Internal Changes
YouTuber Austin Evans recently published a video wherein he tore down the Galaxy Black and discless Series X versions. Close inspection revealed many changes to the innards of the new Xbox Series X models, with the most prominent one being asmaller 6nm chip. The shrunken SoC slightly improves power efficiency by at least 10W at idle and up to 16W while gaming. The motherboard has also been restructured, and the vapor chamber cooling system has been ditched for a more conventional copper heat pipe design. Overall, these changes are more in line with thePS5’s earlier hardware revisions, rather than the Slim model.
As is usually the case with console hardware revisions, Microsoft will be able to manufacture the updated Xbox Series X systems for a cheaper price. The company hasn’t confirmed whether it broke even on console production, but given howpoorly the Xbox Series X/S duo is selling, Microsoft is likely still losing money on each unit.
Xbox Series X
Microsoft’s ninth-generation console, the Xbox Series X is a powerful machine that can support 4K resolution and 60 fps, depending on the game. Released alongside the Xbox Series S, the Series X has a Custom AMD Zen 2 CPU, a Custom RDNA 2 GPU, and 16 GB of RAM.
