Xbox One's permanent $299 price drop clearly signals new Xbox hardware

Microsoft is keen on selling as many current-gen Xbox One consoles as it can, signaling a major Xbox hardware revision announcements at E3 2016.

2

The Xbox One's price tag has been slashed to $299 (again), and a huge portion of the console bundles have been slashed by $50. Redmond says this is a "temporary" reduction, but retailers are matching the price, hinting its a new permanent drop for the Xbox One. With this move, Microsoft is giving us a resoundingly clear signal: new Xbox hardware is coming, and Microsoft knows no one will buy current-gen hardware once the new Xbox consoles are announced.

Reports indicate Microsoft is working on a powerful 4K-ready Xbox Scorpio that's 1.5 times powerful than Sony's new PlayStation 4K model, and 4 times as powerful as the current Xbox One. Microsoft will also unveil the Xbox Mini at E3 2016, 40% smaller console with possible 4K video playback. We'll also see two Xbox streaming devices--a Chromecast-like Xbox stick, and a Shield TV-like set-top box that will likely stream games from Xbox Ones or Windows 10 PCs.

2

More info on the Xbox Scorpio suggests Microsoft is targeting 6TFLOPs of performance, and will reportedly support the Oculus Rift VR headset for desktop-grade VR, which means we could see external discrete video card solutions. With these specs, the Scorpio will utterly smash the Xbox One's sub-optimal hardware into the dust, so Redmond wants to rid itself of current SKUs before E3 rolls around.

So if you're in the market for a new Xbox console, I'll tell you what I tell everyone: wait for the revisions. Don't buy the current system or you'll hate yourself come E3 time.

Microsoft's E3 2016 press conference will be held on Monday, June 13 at 9:30AM PST, and we'll have all the latest updates right here at TweakTown.

Everything we know about the Xbox Scorpio so far:

• Next-gen 4K-ready Xbox coming in 2017, could sport external GPU
• New 4K Xbox to support Oculus Rift VR headset
• New Xbox will be '5 times more powerful' than PS4 Neo, rocks 10 TFLOPs
• https://www.tweaktown.com/news/52259/new-Xbox-one-hardware-play-4k-video-games/index.html
• Microsoft testing new Xbox prototypes with higher-end hardware
• Xbox and Windows are merging under Microsoft's Project Helix strategy
• E3 site lists Xbox One VR category with Oculus Rift devs attached
• Microsoft to unveil a Shield TV-like Xbox set-top box at E3
• Second-generation Xbox One console reportedly in mass production
• New Xbox One components revealed ahead of FCC embargo