Xbox Series S vs Xbox Series X: New difference revealed with price news

A series of high-profile leaks confirmed the price and release date for the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X consoles this week, while Sony fans remain in the dark regarding the PS5 launch.

And the more we learn about the Xbox Series S, the more we find out about the different price points involved.

For those who might not have heard, the Xbox Series S will be launching alongside the Xbox Series X on November 10, 2020.

The Xbox Series S vs Xbox Series X price difference is pretty big, with the Series S costing around 250.00 to buy in the UK.

There are big differences all over, including the Xbox Series S size, which is set to be one of the smallest consoles ever made by Microsoft.

There is also no disc drive included and there are some serious differences when it comes to power. Here’s a rundown from Microsoft who confirmed this week: “Xbox Series S delivers the same next generation speed and performance that define Xbox Series X.

“It is similar in CPU and has the identical I/O performance as Xbox Series X, making it easier for developers to deliver the same great performance, while rendering at a lower resolution.

“Xbox Series S delivers 4x the processing power of an Xbox One console and supports experiences up to 120fps, more immersive and responsive gameplay with support for hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing and Variable Rate Shading.

“In addition, Xbox Series S includes 512GB of custom SSD storage and is powered by the Xbox Velocity Architecture, delivering more than 40x the I/O bandwidth of an Xbox One resulting in faster loading times, steadier frame rates and Quick Resume for multiple titles.

“The primary difference between Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S is in resolution. Through talking to our customers, we found that many of our fans prioritize framerate over resolution, so we wanted to build a console that didn’t require a 4K TV.

“Xbox Series S delivers approximately 3x the GPU performance of Xbox One and was designed to play games at 1440p at 60 frames per second, with support for up to 120fps. With the increased efficiency we get from the next generation AMD RDNA 2 graphics architecture combined with the virtual memory multipliers enabled through the Xbox Velocity Architecture, Xbox Series S will deliver performance and experiences well beyond the raw specs.

“In addition, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S share the same development environment, tools and capabilities, all of which enable developers to build and release their content across consoles more easily while still taking advantage of the unique hardware capabilities of the next generation.”

And another, slightly stranger difference has been flagged this week following the release of the official Xbox Series S stats.

A big part of Microsoft’s pitch to getting Xbox gamers to stick around is that they will be able to keep their digital libraries on their next console.

But something gamers will want to know is that while certain titles have been enhanced on the Xbox One X, this same feature won’t be transferring over to the Series S.

It all sounds a bit complicated but from what has been shared today, backwards compatibility on the Series S will come from the Xbox One S, not the more powerful current-gen Xbox One X.

The Xbox Series S will run Xbox One S versions of Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles, and will boast some of its own enhancements, which will make them run bette, minus the resolution boost.

This will include things like auto HDR and improved frame rates, with Microsoft telling VGC today:

“Xbox Series S was designed to be the most affordable next generation console and play next generation games at 1440P at 60fps.

“To deliver the highest quality backwards compatible experience consistent with the developer’s original intent, the Xbox Series S runs the Xbox One S version of backward compatible games while applying improved texture filtering, higher and more consistent frame rates, faster load times and Auto HDR.”

It’s a little bizarre when you think the Xbox Series S is a next-gen console that won’t run the 4K enhanced Xbox One X versions of games, from a console that launched in 2017.

However, the Xbox Series S will still offer a better experience in other areas, with improved loading times a big difference.