This all became known from Microsoft’s documents.
It seems that all of Microsoft’s statements regarding the company not developing an updated Xbox Series console were lies. The company’s documents, released as part of its legal battle with the FTC, reveal details about both the mid-generation Xbox and the next generation of the console.
The Xbox Series X Refresh, codenamed Brooklin, is scheduled for release in October next year. That is, around the same time that, according to rumors, the PlayStation 5 Pro will be released. The set-top box will receive a hybrid processor with the same architectures that are used now. That is, these are Zen 2 and RDNA 2. At the same time, the APU will switch to the 6 nm process technology, and the console itself will receive support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
There is no data on the performance of the new version, but it is known that the set-top box will receive a 2 TB drive, the power of the power supply will be reduced by 15%, and in standby mode, the power consumption of the new console will be only 20% of the consumption of the current one. You can also note the new design and the lack of an optical drive. What’s important is that there is no price increase: the new console will cost the same $500. This means that the current Series X will likely exit the market as it will compete with the Series S when the price drops.
Microsoft lied: the updated Xbox Series consoles will be released in a year and without raising prices.
Series S will also be updated. Externally, it will not change, it will also receive Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, the storage capacity will be 1 TB, and the price will remain at $300. This model, codenamed Ellewood, will be launched at the end of August next year.
In addition, Microsoft is preparing a new controller codenamed Sebile. It will receive the same features that currently stand out from the Sony Dualsense, that is, adaptive triggers and advanced haptic feedback.
As for the next generation of Xbox, which is aimed at 2028, everything is very interesting. Judging by the documents, Microsoft is deciding whether to leave the new console on the AMD Zen architecture (this will be Zen 6) or switch to ARM64! We have not yet seen a single large home console on Arm, although the same Switch is quite based on this architecture. As for the GPU, Microsoft is going to either license the cores of the Navi 5 architecture, that is RDNA 5, or create a GPU together with AMD.
In addition, the new Xbox may receive an NPU unit, which we have not yet seen in consoles.
