Spec prediction for 2026 Xbox consoles

[Haven (Victor)]

@pg2g

Put me in the camp that thinks ARM isn’t ready. A lot of work to be done there I think. And recent AMD and Intel APUs actually seem pretty good

The leak said ARM was an option so who knows. I do think Xbox next hardware will be built with the idea of reaching the 3 billion plus they keep talking about. I just think it might be different in many ways

[pg2g]

@Haven

The leak said ARM was an option so who knows. I do think Xbox next hardware will be built with the idea of reaching the 3 billion plus they keep talking about. I just think it might be different in many ways

Definitely think ARM was an option, just think there are (many) more Pros than Cons right now. Who would build the APU? The only pweformsnt one now is Qualcomm, would you go to Qualcomm for a GPU? Would you risk it on first generation high end ARM APUs from NVIDIA or AMD?

To add all that in with the (presumed) PC compatibility seems like an even more daunting task.

Edit: meant more cons than pros lol

[BRiT]

@pg2g

Put me in the camp that thinks ARM isn’t ready. A lot of work to be done there I think. And recent AMD and Intel APUs actually seem pretty good

ARM still lacks valid alternatives to the AVX family of operations. That would be troublesome for performance when trying to run existing games.

[Knottian (Daniel)]

@BRiT

ARM still lacks valid alternatives to the AVX family of operations. That would be troublesome for performance when trying to run existing games.

People are also clearly ignoring the Snapdragon ARM push on their laptops have had some terrible results for gaming… so yeah, I’m still banking on me being right about AMD x86 next gen for Xbox as well - most of what the ARM fanatics are excited for, like NPU integration, isn’t even exclusive to ARM and the weaknesses of the architecture constantly get dismissed, but there’s a thousand reasons why everything isn’t running on ARM (though if Qualcomm buys intel, AMD might be the only holdout).

[proelitedota (Andrew)]

@Staffy

Holy shit, I don’t think anyone would buy a console at those prices. Bit of a insane price range.

[Staffy]

@proelitedota

But that’s 899, let’s hope next gen isn’t that.

Pro is 699.

In the original post I don’t see the 699-799 anymore.

However, it’s true. I did mean 699-799 with it and here we are, jesus.

[proelitedota (Andrew)]

@Staffy

But that’s 899, let’s hope next gen isn’t that.

Pro is 699.

In the original post I don’t see the 699-799 anymore.

However, it’s true. I did mean 699-799 with it and here we are, jesus.

You don’t see the 699-799 anymore because I think those are too low now.

[pg2g]

They’ll either have to give up on having a generational performance improvement or give up on having a reasonable price.

Having a lower end baseline at mass market price would allow them to swing for the fences on the high end console.

[Searsy82]

@Staffy

But that’s 899, let’s hope next gen isn’t that.

Pro is 699.

In the original post I don’t see the 699-799 anymore.

However, it’s true. I did mean 699-799 with it and here we are, jesus.

$699 is with primarily just a bigger GPU and some more storage.

For a high performance system with improvements in all areas…yeah it’s not gonna be cheap.

[KakkaKarrotKake]

At those prices they are pretty much excluding a massive portion of the usual casual console audience

People will simply stay on what they have even more than they already have

[Searsy82]

@KakkaKarrotKake

At those prices they are pretty much excluding a massive portion of the usual casual console audience

People will simply stay on what they have even more than they already have

I think they are aware of that because its already happening.

[proelitedota (Andrew)]

@KakkaKarrotKake

At those prices they are pretty much excluding a massive portion of the usual casual console audience

People will simply stay on what they have even more than they already have

Series s and x are not going away.

[PowerDrift (Paul)]

I’m budgeting for the next gen Xbox to come in at £699 to £750 Really looking forward to what the Series and One X team can do when they’ve been asked to deliver the biggest jump ever.

It would be nice if the next gen Xbox main memory could be added too like in the old days of some of the older consoles and would like to see that if you buy a game for the new system digitally you can play it on your console or the PC & handheld and that goes for 3rd party games .

Whatever will be the case hope for a monster GPU like in the old Xbox or the 360

[KakkaKarrotKake]

@Searsy82

I think they are aware of that because its already happening.

@proelitedota

Series s and x are not going away.

I know but it seems like people are still expecting console gaming to basically continue to do the same it always has

At these prices there is going to be a massive drop off in new sales next gen

As long as people are spending money on Series/PS5 and they aren’t losing money on hardware, I don’t think they’ll care but fanboys who endlessly console war over hardware sales are going to be need a new talking point

[SphereSeeker]

I’m on the mindset that the next piece of hardware will be the handheld iteration of a series machine. However I do still think in my opinion that they wont have newer gen hardware and that is still a ways away… Since original plans did change I’m acknowledging that from the fcc docs. I’m making an educated guess they will release this handheld in early 2026 a year gap after the switch 2 initial release, and will be prepping for the next gen device to come out at the earliest in the fall of 2027. I personally feel anything earlier than that is rushing to market based on current length of dev times.

spec wise for handheld I think it will better then steam deck but worse then rog ally somewhere in that range. I haven’t brainstormed on what they could put in the next console to comment on that yet.

[proelitedota (Andrew)]

Definitely the next gen console will be at least one year after the handheld. Probably will try to be out the same year as the PS6 to get the free marketing for a next gen launch.

[Colbert]

Though spec speculation and prediction was one of my core competencies in the past, this time I have no freaking what is coming. AI nd Raytracing makes it hard to predict what they actually need to be competitive. Also MS has the tendency to jump ship on the foundational architecture sometimes (ARM vs amd64).

[toddborn]

Whatever it is, I want it to be able to play Starfield at max settings at 60 FPS.

[nrXic]

@Searsy82

$699 is with primarily just a bigger GPU and some more storage.

For a high performance system with improvements in all areas…yeah it’s not gonna be cheap.

If I were to design a console, I’d stick with bare bones storage knowing that a significant portion of gamers stick with 3-4 live service games and a few extra.

If there were two machines that cost $699 and featured:

1. a powerful GPU and 3TB storage Or
2. an even more powerful GPU (1.5X the other model) and 2TB storage

I’d go with the second one. It’s insane to think how much $100 adds to the hardware when it comes to GPU vs storage. You get a whole lot more processing for $100 more.

Adding storage is trivial while adding extra processing power is not even a thing.

[pg2g]

@nrXic

If I were to design a console, I’d stick with bare bones storage knowing that a significant portion of gamers stick with 3-4 live service games and a few extra.

If there were two machines that cost $699 and featured:

1. a powerful GPU and 3TB storage Or
2. an even more powerful GPU (1.5X the other model) and 2TB storage

I’d go with the second one. It’s insane to think how much $100 adds to the hardware when it comes to GPU vs storage. You get a whole lot more processing for $100 more.

Adding storage is trivial while adding extra processing power is not even a thing.

Yeah, and that $50 optical drive budget can go to the APU also lol.