Xbox Series S

Product Information

What may deter people from buying Microsoft's more affordable Xbox is the fact that it outputs at 1440p for gaming. This lower resolution is a firm favourite in the PC gaming space due to the superior image quality it provides over 1080p, and the lower amount of graphical grunt it requires from developers to achieve. This has allowed Microsoft to create a lower-spec machine that still boasts next-gen features. Coming from the Xbox One Controller, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Xbox Wireless Controller for Series X/S isn't that different. However, it's now more comfortable and easier to use than ever before, due to subtle changes in the controller's ergonomics. More third-party and first-party exclusives have since arrived like The Medium and Microsoft Flight Simulator, but Microsoft's first-party output is slowly catching up. Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, Psychonauts 2, Grounded, and As Dusk Falls are all now available.

With a 12 teraflop GPU capable of up to 120 frames per second, the Xbox Series X is twice as powerful as the Xbox One X, Microsoft’s former flagship console for the last generation. It supports various exciting new-gen features such as ray tracing, variable rate shading, and support for 8K resolution. It's important to note that while the Xbox Series S only outputs at 1440p resolution when you're gaming, the console is capable of displaying streaming apps in 4K HDR. That means the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus will output in 4K if you're using a compatible display. The Xbox One S might look similar, then, but it's technologically inferior to the Xbox Series S. It's a great option if you want to play Xbox exclusives that you missed out on like Gears 5 or Forza Horizon 4, or simply want to give Xbox Game Pass a whirl, but if you're after a more futureproofed console, you'll want the Xbox Series S. Xbox has made a serious effort to remove inconvenient load times and make sure that you spend your time gaming instead of waiting several minutes for your game to load before playing. Creating the smallest Xbox ever is not just a space-saving strategy but also allows for better airflow and cooling process, making Xbox Series S incredibly resistant to overheating.

The UI that greets you when you’ve finished setting up the Xbox Series S will be instantly familiar to anyone who's used an Xbox One in the last three months. The 'new' Xbox Dashboard rolled out in August 2020, and is the same across both Xbox Series X and S and the older hardware. It isn’t the most intuitive of interfaces, though. Klarna Bank AB (publ) is authorised by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) and subject to limited regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. Details about the extent of this regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority are available from Klarna Bank AB (publ) on request.

If you are fortunate enough to have a display that's compliant with HDMI 2.1, you can enable 120fps at 1440p without having to drop down to 1080p resolution. To enable 120fps, simply pop into the console's audio and visual settings, where you can choose from various frame rate and resolution options. Of course, they’ll have to do so on a device that’s significantly less powerful. The Series S has the same eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU as the Series X, but it runs at a 200MHz deficit. It also has 10GB of GDDR6 RAM against the Series X’s 16GB. Where the Series X has a 12 teraflop GPU running at 1.825GHz, the Series S has a weedy-sounding 4 teraflop GPU running at just 1.55Ghz. That GPU has just 20 RDNA2 compute units, too, where the Series X GPU has 52. Use with digital games only; console does not play physical discs. Use on Xbox Series S as content becomes available. 120 FPS: Requires supported content and display; use on Xbox Series S as content becomes available. 4K streaming: with select apps, see Xbox.com. Some apps require app provider-specific subscriptions and/or other requirements. Xbox Game Pass: Game catalog varies over time. Visit Xbox Game Pass for details. Halo Infinite: coming soon. That might sound like a big compromise on paper, but remember the Xbox Series S is targeting 1440p/60fps instead of 4K/60fps. This means it needs less power to reach its pixel count, but it can still deliver all the new-gen features Microsoft is focusing on like ray tracing and 120fps.

The Xbox One S only has one real advantage over Microsoft’s newer model: the 4K HD Blu-Ray drive. If you’re looking for a cheap 4K Blu-Ray player that also allows you to stream Netflix and play games, the One S is a great choice. We won't mince words here: the Xbox Series S's game library got off to a bad start. With the delay of Halo Infinite, there weren't any first-party exclusives available at launch on the Xbox Series S, other than titles that have previously been available on Xbox.

Its GPU, while not as powerful as the one in the Xbox Series X, can upscale games to 4K (in a similar way to the Xbox One S) and still run games at 120fps at 1440p, but you'll need a HDMI 2.1-compliant TV if you want to keep the resolution at 1440p. It's also capable of ray tracing, and loads games faster than ever, thanks to Microsoft's Xbox Velocity Architecture. Most folks though, we expect, will be pairing the Xbox Series S with a 4K HDR TV – potentially one with a 120Hz native refresh rate, although the majority of displays sold over the last few years are likely to only support 60Hz at 4K and 1440p.If you do have a capable display, here's how to enable 120Hz on Xbox Series S. How on Earth can it play the same games then? Well, where the Series X is designed to play them at native 4K resolutions at 60 to 120fps, the Series S targets a maximum 1440p at 60fps. And in the real world, rather than the world of console specs, that often means 1080p at 60fps or even 1080p at 30fps. If you’re a paid-up member of the benchmark-obsessed PC gaming massive you’ll regard this as the stuff of nightmares, but if games look great and play well at 1080p on Series S, does it really matter? Xbox Series S review: Price and competitionThe Xbox Series S is 60% smaller than the Xbox Series X saving owners a lot of space without sacrificing user experience. Klarna Bank AB (publ) is authorised by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) and subject to limited regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. Details about the extent of this regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority are available from Klarna Bank AB (publ) on request. Finance is only available to permanent UK residents aged 18+, subject to status, terms and conditions apply.