Microsoft reveals the Xbox Series S’ hardware specifications

Microsoft has officially revealed the specifications of their Xbox Series S console, confirming that the system will offer gamers the same hardware features as the Xbox Series X while offering consumers a much lower price point. 

The Xbox Series S is a next-generation console. Don’t let the system’s £249/$299 pricing fool you. This system offers gamers the same new features as Xbox Series X but will run new games with lower resolution targets. Where the Xbox Series X targets native 4K, the Xbox Series S will target a resolution of 1440p. That’s the long and short of it. 

Will the Xbox Series S benefit from next-generation CPU and storage performance? Yes! Will Xbox Series S support the same RDNA 2 GPU features at its bigger brother? Yes! Will Xbox Series S support every game available on Xbox Series X? Yes! With the Xbox Series S, the only real downgrade some in the form of a smaller graphics processor, and that’s a small price to pay given this console’s lower retail cost. 

CPU-wise, the Xbox Series S will feature the same Zen 2 CPU cores at Xbox Series X and operate them at marginally lower clock speeds. It’s worth noting here that the PlayStation 5’s CPU runs at a variable clock speed that maxes out at 3.5GHz, making the Xbox Series S only marginally slower. Higher resolutions do command slightly higher CPU utilisation, which is why the Xbox Series S can afford to be slightly slower than its bigger brother. 

Xbox Series S will ship with the same refined gamepad design as the Xbox Series X, with the only difference being that the gamepad will ship in its Robot White colour scheme. This colour scheme better matches the Series S console. Outside of GPU downgrades, the only downside of Xbox Series S is its lack of a disk drive and its use of a 512GB SSD instead of a larger 1TB SSD. These changes allow the Series S to be almost 60% smaller than the Xbox Series X and cost almost half as much.

Sadly, Microsoft has not revealed the raw GPU specifications of the Xbox Series S, though we do know the system’s resolution targets. Microsoft doesn’t want the Xbox Series S to be involved in involved in any TFLOPS debates, so it makes sense why the company won’t disclose the number. That said, we would like to see them be more transparent about this. Microsoft has confirmed that the graphics processor on the Xbox Series S will contain the same RDNA 2 hardware features as Xbox Series X, offering DirectX Raytracing support, Mesh Shaders, Variable Rate Shading support. The Xbox Series S will also feature a hardware upscaler to play games on 4K displays. 

 
Update – Microsoft released more detailed specifications for their Xbox Series S system after the release of this article. As such, the table below now included full GPU data.