Xbox Series X

The Xbox Series X is Microsoft's gen-9 "premium" console, and has been available to purchase since November 10, 2020. It was designed to take advantage of 4K TVs, complete with HDR support, VRR capabilities, with 60 FPS as a primary frame rate target.

At launch, Microsoft touted things like ray-traced lighting as being a major feature, but most developers haven't opted to use performance-costly technology heavily. The Xbox Series X and its PS5 counterpart have been very quickly outpaced by gaming PCs in the graphics department, although it remains an incredibly capable console with good performance-to-price ratios — despite President Trump's tariff-induced price hikes.

Powered by a custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 APU, complete with 52 CUs and RDNA 2 graphics at 12 teraflops, the 16GB RAM Xbox Series X has delivered games all the way up to 120 FPS in some circumstances, including popular titles like Call of Duty and Overwatch 2. Xbox differentiated itself from competitors by offering Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers day one access to all Xbox-owned games, alongside many heavy-hitting third-party titles.

The Xbox Series X has notoriously struggled to keep up with the PS5 in sales, though, owing to weak distribution, a lack of highly desirable exclusive games, and Microsoft's Xbox One hangover. The next Xbox looks set to include full Windows at its core, opening up the ecosystem to third-party stores like Steam, potentially destroying the need for "exclusive" games. It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft's Xbox platform can stick the landing, as scrutiny over its hardware plans remains endless.

Essential Xbox Series X reading