There have been recent reports that Microsoft have begun work on a new and improved chip for the Xbox Series X console. According to Brad Sams, journalist, the new chip will be smaller and more power-efficient and this could lead to a lower cost in production for Xbox.
On his YouTube channel, Sams claims that ‘I believe this is true–I know that Microsoft was working on revisions of the chip. Now, are we going to see performance improvements, are we going to see anything else? I do not believe so, but Microsoft is always working on making cooler, more efficient chips because that lowers the cost of production. I believe it is accurate that Microsoft is working on a smaller, more power-efficient chip. That is, I’m very confident in that.’
Going back and forth on new released products to make amendments and improvements is not new in the technological world. Smartphone companies like Apple and Android do this constantly with new versions to improve features and add in new technological elements. We can also look at the iGaming industry with online casinos having to adapt and improve their features to suit to mobile technology to keep up with the market. More and more free spins no deposit casinos in the UK and all over the world are offering their services for online play, on-the-go.
Xbox Series X’s smaller chip will not likely result in a slimmer version of the console, especially since the product is still very new. The Xbox 360 Slim was released five years after the original console and the Xbox One S arrived three years after the Xbox One. It is also unclear whether this new chip will be part of the mid-cycle console refresh.
What’s more likely is that this update will be strictly internal, leaving the current Xbox Series X exterior unchanged. In fact, this is what Sony did to the revised PS5 features, keeping the unique design but tweaking the heatsink, now smaller and lighter.
The future seems promising for Microsoft’s new Xbox hardware. Liz Hamren, Microsoft’s CVP of gaming Experiences and Platforms said that ‘Cloud is key to our hardware and Game Pass roadmaps. But no one should think we’re slowing down on our core console engineering. In fact, we’re accelerating it. We’re already hard at work on new hardware and platforms, some of which won’t come to light for years.’ Design supply being their biggest challenge, the Xbox Series X and the smaller Series S have managed to sell well since their launch in November 2020. In fact, as of this year’s January, the Xbox Series combined shipped 12 million units globally since its launch.
