Unfortunately that’s pretty unlikely for two reasons - they’re going with AMD who don’t currently have anything near the level of a 4090, and even if they did the SoC alone would be well over a grand before you include the SSD or expensive fancy RAM like you mentioned.
Particularly given Xbox won’t be taking a loss on the consoles (Sony probably won’t either).
So either it’d be a lot more expensive (and AMD doing a lot better on their new chipset, as they’ve mainly stayed medium level recently than high end) or probably something a little less powerful - I know it’s a wishlist but trying to help keep expectations lower lol.
Yeah I think the top line console will be a big leap, partly due to hardware but a lot due to upscaling tech from MS and AMD plus the multiple storefronts being such a game changer - and have a price tag to reflect that with Xbox not losing money on it.
Then probably the handheld with docking option for the “Series S” level, probably closer to current console prices (more PS5 than Series S pricewise though)…
AMD is planning to implement chip let design for there next gen GPUs. If it works out, making powerful gups will be much cheaper then today’s standards. Without that it won’t happen.
That would be for the handheld, which is quite normal in order to get acceptable battery life and is something people force on their PC handhelds to extend their playtime. That’s why when they compare benchmarks on those you’ll often see it collared at different watt usage and how performance isn’t necessarily linear at higher wattage.
It says they are aiming for less in the console though than this previous gen (aiming being the key word here) and if they do it does mean they aren’t looking to get as huge of a jump as some might anticipate. Seems like Sony’s strategy would be, at least according to these rumours, mostly about mass user adoption. Which means get a price as low as possible and keep the casuals on your side.
Yes I thought about that but this supposed portable console (maybe hybrid like the Switch) may cover the masses. If that isn’t in the works another two console approach is possible too. We also have to factor in the number of people still on PS4/XBO. The need to jump ship right away just isn’t there anymore. The main people interested in new hardware are those who are willing to spend to stay on the performance edge.
Another angle is legally we are moving towards open storefronts. Apple/Android are the obvious ones but it would mean Sony too. That would mean Game Pass would be able to open up on PS6/Switch2 which could be why MS is angling away from being tied to hardware sales. At the very least they are hedging their bets in case this happens. Heck even this tariff crap is making a mess of things.
imo, they will always have to be somewhat tied to hardware sales due to the fact they need to honor all of our game libraries and Gamepass will most likely never happen on Nintendo or Sony hardware as they would lose the 30% sales they get from their own storefronts, unless MS would be willing to give away most of their profit on Gamepass in those ecosystem which would most likely not be worth it in the end. Unless of course they could have a ‘‘Gamepass for Nintendo Switch’’ that only covers MS 1st party games, but I don’t think the numbers would be huge.
I liked MLID’s idea of using the portable’s hardware but in a box that goes under the TV to leverage the lower entry point even further. Because I imagine having the display and battery adds a considerable amount to the cost. Maybe the next Series S could be derived from the portable as a 3rd option for an even cheaper entry point in the ecosystem.
We know the upcoming nodes aren’t getting cheaper, and I think companies need to get smart in order to keep costs down as much as they can.
That’s the thing, legally Sony and Nintendo may not have a choice. They may be forced to open their systems to other storefronts bypassing their 30% cut. This would apply to Xbox also, which may be why they are hedging their bets. It throws the whole exclusivity tied to hardware concept for a loop.
Here’s one of said threads where someone has made a collection of all the videos he’s deleted to hide his terrible track record. He was one of the “PS5 has Infinity Cache” people and almost always blows smoke up Sony’s ass, and there’s plenty of reasons he’s banned as a source from r/hardware.
Oh I know, but since we have some info corroborated by Kepler I thought it’d be fun to still talk about it.
At least from what we can see right now, if any of this has any truth to it, is that MS is going for something wide again in terms of CUs (Xbox Series X wink wink) and Sony has been suggested by AMD to go similar for economies of scale, unlike with PS5 where they went with something that had less CUs and was OCed a lot more to save on cost.
If Sony did go with the same solution though we might have consoles that are far more closer than they were this gen. Also, considering Sony really wants a handheld and that Sarah Bond confirmed the next gen of Xbox is at home and in handheld form (from the AMD announcement video), I’m wondering if MS will use similar silicon considering we haven’t heard anything on that front.
Having the MS and Sony consoles being so similar, the multi storefront availability on Xbox would be a very interesting differentiator.
All of the rumors is at Sony is going to keep costs down in the significantly weaker than an Xbox moving forward. At least the first one, because all AMD has to do to make something an Xbox is add in its backwards compatible hardware parts, so there could be a lot of things called an Xbox PC on the market next generation.
By default, though, supposedly, the next mainline Xbox console would be significantly more powerful than a PlayStation 6. If the rumors are true, because Playstation doesn’t want to lose any money per console but still keep that $500 price.
For me what interests me the most, besides people entrenched in either ecosystems that won’t switch, is those that would on a dime if they had the opportunity and what they are looking at the most.
I personally know of a few people that switched over to Xbox this gen from PS4 just because they couldn’t get a PS5 at launch and price for them wasn’t an issue, so there are people who can go towards any ecosystem from one generation to the next. Xbox One X also I think had very good word of mouth in general and Xbox has always been about trying to get the power crown. I just wonder if there will be any chips available from AMD in 3rd party hardware that will match Sony on price, and if not will some people move over to Xbox due to having much more powerful hardware along with Steam. I think both hardware being even more similar could favor Xbox a lot with what we know is coming to their console in the future and I’m somewhat hoping AMD was able to convince then to go for more powerful hardware.
The difference in power levels between Xbox Series X and PS5 was too small though and mostly not noticeable to the average people so it’d need to be a bigger difference than that I think for it to be worthwhile for MS.
Since this is all just speculation anyway. I kind of imagine it going down like this.
November 2026 - New Xbox PC launches.
November 2028 - PS6 launches
2030 - We finally start to see AAA games Target the new Xbox PC and PS6, leaving behind the Xbox Series and PS5 generation.
This is why Xbox should just launch the Xbox Pc in 2026. This whole idea of waiting for hardware leaps doesn’t make as much sense with long cross generational periods. To me the big innovation is the Xbox PC O/S.
Seems like there was more info released on Magnus and now it seems more unlikely like that’ll end up being in an Xbox if I understood correctly. Or at least, it could be the basis of the Xbox PC hardware as it could be scaled to be used in different tiers of configurations which could align with the Xbox PC concept.
Lots of maybes, which is par for the course I guess with all those ‘‘insiders’’.
I’m really wondering if the only option will be buying prebuilt or if MS/AMD will give gamers the option to buy the latest AMD CPU and GPU and build their own « Xbox » with the gaming oriented Windows OS we get on the ROG Ally X? Or maybe Xbox branded laptops that already have the hardware to do so.
Also, do we know all of the GPUs will have Xbox support in terms of BC and such or will it be only certain branded products? To me that part wasn’t clear from the announcement with Sarah Bond.