Microsoft Announces Xbox Series S At $299: Leaked Trailer Reveals Specs

By Niels Broekhuijsen
last updated

Smaller Xbox, smaller price

(Image credit: Microsoft)

There have long been rumors about two types of Xboxes, with one flagship console and one smaller variant. Now that Microsoft has already revealed the Xbox Series X, it's time for the Xbox Series S.

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In a rather unusual fashion, Microsoft revealed the tiny console in a tweet, stating that it's the smallest Xbox ever and that it's coming in at a price of $299. At this time, the company isn't sharing any further details, but that doesn't mean there aren't any.

Leaker WalkingCat dropped a trailer for the Xbox Series X, which details a few key things. 

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This trailer shows that the Xbox Series S is 60 percent smaller than the Series X, can run 1440p at up to 120 FPS, supports 4K upscaling, DirectX ray-tracing, seamless game-switching, has a 512 GB NVMe SSD, variable refresh rate support, and more. These are all similar characteristics to the bigger Xbox Series X, showing that it really is the big console's little brother. 

However, it's important to note that at this time, the trailer is not confirmed as official and the specs might not be true. 

As reported by Windows Central, it looks like Microsoft will have a few payment options for the new Xboxes. The publication reports that as an alternative to the $299 retail price, consumers can also opt for a $25/month finance plan for the Xbox Series S, with the Series X going for a $35/month finance plan or retailing at $499. 

Both consoles are expected to land in November.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

32 Comments Comment from the forums
  • sizzling
    512GB storage is unacceptably small.
    Reply
  • Mandark
    sizzling said:
    512GB storage is unacceptably small.
    Hook it up to an external 8 TB drive and you’re all set. I’m going to get the series X for my main television and the series s for my room

    Typically I never store games on the internal storage of any Console
    Reply
  • Chung Leong
    Will the Big Navi launch include a sub-$200 card with RT? AMD is obviously aware of the Xbox S. Consumers wouldn't be too willing to spend $150-$200 on worse-than-console graphics.
    Reply
  • nofanneeded
    Looks like Xbox one X in smaller size ...
    But in anyways , I dont see a market for this in USA or western Europe ..

    Maybe in China , Asia , Africa , Eastern Europe , and the Middle east.. because people there are poor.
    Reply
  • nofanneeded
    Mandark said:
    Hook it up to an external 8 TB drive and you’re all set. I’m going to get the series X for my main television and the series s for my room

    Typically I never store games on the internal storage of any Console

    Wont be a good idea ... new games will take advantage of NVME drives for loading while gaming .. HDD wont do ..

    He needs to use SSD external Drive.
    Reply
  • nofanneeded
    Chung Leong said:
    Will the Big Navi launch include a sub-$200 card with RT? AMD is obviously aware of the Xbox S. Consumers wouldn't be too willing to spend $150-$200 on worse-than-console graphics.

    It will be $299 ... Xbox does not profit from consoles sales. so expect the cost of the card will be $200 and will be sold for $299
    Reply
  • sizzling
    Mandark said:
    Hook it up to an external 8 TB drive and you’re all set. I’m going to get the series X for my main television and the series s for my room

    Typically I never store games on the internal storage of any Console
    Nope. It’s already been said that to run some/all Series X games they need to be on internal SSD or external proprietary SSD.
    Reply
  • wr3zzz
    nofanneeded said:
    Looks like Xbox one X in smaller size ...
    But in anyways , I dont see a market for this in USA or western Europe ..

    Maybe in China , Asia , Africa , Eastern Europe , and the Middle east.. because people there are poor.

    Or for college students who don't have 4K TV or monitor in their room, or for people who don't care the difference between 1440P and 2160P (there are a lot of those people even in rich countries), or for less affluent people in rich countries, there are a lot of those too. OR, it's for the car...
    Reply
  • sizzling
    nofanneeded said:
    Looks like Xbox one X in smaller size ...
    But in anyways , I dont see a market for this in USA or western Europe ..

    Maybe in China , Asia , Africa , Eastern Europe , and the Middle east.. because people there are poor.
    I’m put off by the lack of storage. Apart from that I might have considered it as a 2nd XBox to live with my PC setup. If the wife wants the TV in the living room this would be quite handy when I want to play with mates on XBox. At the moment the plan is to move the One X in with my pc once the Series X releases. I do see a market for this.
    Reply
  • nofanneeded
    wr3zzz said:
    Or for college students who don't have 4K TV or monitor in their room, or for people who don't care the difference between 1440P and 2160P (there are a lot of those people even in rich countries), or for less affluent people in rich countries, there are a lot of those too. OR, it's for the car...

    not really , there is a problem with this console , it is the 512 nvme SSD .. compared to its bigger brother with 1TB Nvme thats alone $70 difference for nvme drive ..

    so this console is actually $370 .. so saving just $130 is not a huge save anymore .. and looking at the size of the console I dont think it can reach more than 6 Tflops , which is not good with raytracing turned on even on FHD gaming.
    Reply