Xbox Series X price
Microsoft won't be pinned down on a price point quite yet – unsurprisingly, given what a sore spot the price of the Xbox One was for fans. At launch the original Xbox One cost a whopping $499 / £429 / AU$599, which was quickly reduced when Microsoft realized people weren't forking out.
Microsoft has at the very least
promised that it's learned from this pricing mistake, with Phil Spencer stating that this time "we will not be out of position on power or price.” That doesn't mean that the console will be cheap, mind you, it just means the price point will be better aligned with the console's power and the price points of the competition.
After all, Jason Ronald, director of the Xbox platform, gave only a vague reassurance when speaking to
Windows Central, saying that Microsoft knew "what reasonable price points are for a console and kind of what customers expect about that".
Price will at least in part be determined by the cost of the components going into the console: Xbox Scarlett is going to be a lot more powerful than either the
Xbox One S or
Xbox One X, and that could mean we're looking at an even higher price tag.
Xbox Series X specs
We now know what Xbox Series X looks like and what it's packing under the hood, and it's shaping up to be an absolute machine of a console. The next Xbox's gaming PC design is pretty apt, considering the next-gen console's internal hardware is comparable to one.
Using custom-designed processor from AMD making use of Zen 2 and Navi architecture, Xbox Series X is four times more powerful than the
Xbox One X. It'll be capable of running games at 120Hz frame rates, at potential 8K resolutions, while also showcasing fancy real-time ray-tracing tech. It's the works.
An SSD will come as standard, as with the PS5, which will give it the option of using its storage system as virtual RAM, as well as lifting load time performance by a factor of 40x. That'll let developers stream in far more detailed worlds around a player. In terms of 'standard' RAM, the console will pack in a meaty GDDR6.
In addition, benchmark results have appeared online for an AMD ‘Flute’ system-on-a-chip (SoC), leading some to speculate that this could be the hardware that will power Xbox Series X.
The
benchmark results were spotted by a
Twitter user, and while we’re not sure what the purpose of the chip is, we know that Microsoft is working with AMD to produce a custom SoC that combines a processor and graphics card for the next Xbox – in the same way Sony is working with AMD on its custom Gonzalo SoC for the PlayStation 5.
If these benchmark results are real, and the AMD Flute SoC is indeed going to power the Xbox Series X console, then it gives us an idea of the console's specifications and potential power level – something Microsoft has been rather cagey about so far.
According to the benchmark results, the AMD Flute SoC will come with eight Zen 2 cores, 16 threads and SMT capability.
Interestingly, the base clock speed of the Flute SoC is just 1.6GHz, which is pretty low these days, with a maximum boost of 3.2GHz.
This suggests that the Flute SoC will be a low-power part for use in compact systems – such as a games console, and is similar to AMD’s Jaguar SoC which powered the
Xbox One.
While on paper the Flute SoC’s processor doesn’t sound too impressive – especially when compared to modern desktop PCs’ CPUs – it looks like the Flute CPU will be at least two times faster than previous-generation Jaguar SoCs, and will be a big upgrade over the dated 28nm Jaguar SoCs found in the original Xbox One and PS4.
The Flute SoC is also expected to be 7nm, which will also bring power benefits.
As a system-on-a-chip, the AMD Flute looks like it comes with a graphics processing unit (GPU) as well, though clues about the graphics capabilities are harder to find. Apparently, it will be based on ‘NAVI 10LITE’ – which has been mentioned before when
unreleased AMD Navi GPUs showed up in a Linux driver.
It’s possible that this is a ‘Lite’ version of the Navi 10 GPU, which will have reduced or limited specs compared to the full version, including lower CU (compute unit) counts. Having a lower CU count means the GPU will be less power-hungry, again suggesting that the AMD Flute SoC, if it does exist, is designed for a device where power efficiency is important – such as a games console.
Finally, the benchmark results also suggest the engineering sample uses 16GB of memory – though the type of memory is not mentioned. It could mean that the Flute SoC shares 16GB of GDDR6 memory between the CPU and GPU, in a similar way to how the Xbox One X shares GDDR5 memory.
So, does this mean we have a better idea of what the Xbox Series X's specs will be? Well, there’s some compelling evidence, but remember that this is from a leaked benchmark, and we’re not sure if the AMD Flute SoC is going to be used in Series X – if the SoC even exits.
It’s also worth noting that this AMD Flute is apparently an engineering sample, which means this may not be its final specifications – and that could change if (and it’s a very big if) it ends up in the next Xbox when the console launches late 2020.
"I think the area that we really want to focus on next generation is frame rate and playability of the games," Spencer explained in an interview with
Gamespot. "Ensuring that the games load incredibly fast, ensuring that the game is running at the highest frame rate possible."
In addition Spencer went on to explain that Microsoft is aiming to get Xbox Series X games to run at 60 FPS in 4K, calling the challenge a "design goal".
"This generation, we've really focused on 4K visuals and how we bring both movies through 4K Blu-ray and video streaming," Spencer explained. "And with Xbox One X allowing games to run at 4K visuals will make really strong visual enhancements next generation."
If you're less bothered about the specs and more concerned about whether you can still play physical games on the next Xbox, then you'll be pleased to know that Xbox Series X has a physical disc drive.
Microsoft has also confirmed that all your current Xbox One accessories will work with Xbox Series X, including existing controllers and headsets. But we'd doubt that also includes the ill-fated Kinect motion tracker.
That means that the
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 that launched in November 2019 will be forward compatible with Series X, but Microsoft is also launching a next generation wireless controller to accompany the new console.
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