Cheaper next-gen Xbox Series S reveal set for August, reports say

The cheaper, disc-less and lower-powered next-gen Xbox Series S will be revealed in August, sources tell Eurogamer.

Following the huge next-gen first-party showcase in July, Microsoft will finally unveil the Xbox Series S at a special event in August. The news comes after a rather muted month of Xbox news in June. Microsoft had previously planned to reveal new tidbits every month for the rest of 2020, but instead of revealing anything in June, Microsoft focused on reiterating next-gen hardware info.

While Microsoft has yet to announce the Xbox Series S, we've been able to piece together info from reports stemming from 2018. The Xbox Series S (codenamed Lockhart) may release in 2020 to complement its beefier, more expensive older brother, the Xbox Series X. Microsoft is positioning Lockhart as the Xbox One S version of the next console generation.

Reports say the Series S will have a significantly weaker GPU with 4TFLOP of power, which is roughly 1/3rd of the compute perf found in the Xbox Series X's 12TFLOP RDNA 2 GPU. Onboard system memory is likewise expected to shrink to 10GB of GDDR6 RAM, 7.5GB of which is useable for games.

The Series S' CPU is expected to utilize the same 8-core, 16-thread Zen 2 CPU as the Series X, albeit with slight downclocks.

Reports also say the Xbox Series S will be digital-only and won't have a disc drive. This could reduce the price anywhere from $259 - $399, and the Series X is expected to sit at roughly $499.

Here's a comparison of what we've heard about Lockhart and Xbox Series X so far:

Lockhart

• 1440p 60FPS
• No disc drive
• Super-fast SSD that can be used as VRAM
• 7nm AMD SoC w/ scaled-down 8-core, 16 thread Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU
• Lower 10GB GDDR6 memory pool
• 4 TFLOP Navi GPU
• Aims to rival PS4 Pro/Replace Xbox One S
• Full backward compatibility with all Xbox One games
• Cheaper MSRP

Anaconda/Project Scarlett

• 4K 60FPS
• Disc drive with 4K UHD playback
• Super-fast SSD that can be used as VRAM
• Full 7nm AMD SoC with 8-core, 16 thread Zen 2 CPU and Navi RDNA 2.0 GPU
• 16GB GDDR6 RAM
• 12 TFLOPs of power
• 4x as powerful as Xbox One X/aims to replace Xbox One X
• Full backward compatibility with all Xbox One games
• More expensive MSRP