Xbox Series X vs Xbox Series S: What’s the difference?

• Microsoft Xbox Series X

  Editor’s Choice

  The Series X has acres of power to offer up, and is lovely and silent while you use it, although its undeniable bulk does make it a bit unwieldy. Still, this is Microsoft’s premier gaming machine right now.

  Pros

  • Superb power
  • Excellent backwards compatibility
  • 4K gaming

• 

  Microsoft Xbox Series S

  Budget pick

  The Xbox Series S might be smaller and less powerful, but as a budget option it’s hard to beat, and you get access to all the same games at lower resolutions – a perfect deal that opens up this generation way more widely.

  Pros

  • Great value
  • Tiny footprint
  • All the same games

By all accounts, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are excellent consoles. Microsoft did the smart thing with this generation by offering the consoles concurrently. You have the maximum powerhouse, which is the Series X, and the more budget-friendly — and shelf-friendly — Series S. Microsoft launched both consoles simultaneously with the goal of enticing all sorts of gamers regardless of their budget range?

So, which one is better? That’s not an unfair question considering these two consoles were made for two entirely different groups of people. Let’s compare and contrast the various features and specs and figure out which Xbox is best for you.

Price, specs and availability

A few years into their generation, both the Xbox Series S and Series X are now widely available and easy to find in stock at a bunch of retailers, something that took quite a while to become the norm. We’re still quite a way off from any new consoles from Xbox. The next Xbox is slated for launch sometime in 2028, although a disc-less Xbox Series X is in the works currently.

You can also purchase either console on the Xbox All Access monthly payment plan. It includes the console and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for a low monthly fee. Check out all the details here.

• 	Microsoft Xbox Series S	Microsoft Xbox Series X
  Processing Power	4 TFLOPS	12 TFLOPS
  Storage	512GB internal SSD (expandable)	1TB internal SSD (expandable
  CPU	Custom Zen 2 8X Cores @ 3.6 GHz	Custom Zen 2 8X Cores @ 3.8 GHz
  Dimensions	275 x 150 x 64mm	301 x 151 x 151mm
  Weight	1.9kgs	4.5kgs
  RAM	10GB GDDR6	16GB GDDR6
  4K Capabilities	No. 1440p maximum with HDR	Yes, with HDR
  Brand	Microsoft	Microsoft
  Game support	Digital only	Digital and physical media
  Connectivity	Wi-Fi and Ethernet	Wi-Fi and Ethernet
  Bands	802.11ac dual band / 802.3 10/100/1000	802/11ac dual band / 802.3 10/100/1000
  Ports	1 HDMI 2.1 / 3 USB 3.1 Gen 1	1 HDMI 2.1 / 3 USB 3.1 Gen 1
  Audio	DTS / Dolby TrueHD with Atmos / L-PCM up to 7.1	Dolby Digital / DTS / Dolby TrueHD with Atmos / L-PCM up to 7.1

Design

Perhaps surprisingly, the two next-gen consoles from Xbox look nothing alike.

The Xbox Series X is a monolithic beast of a machine, best designed to stand vertically — but can lay horizontally — and available in black with some green accents in the top grill. There are some special edition Xbox Series X consoles with different colors, but black and green variant is what most people get. It looks like a mini-fridge, but the design helps faciliate cooling. It looks good, if a bit nondescript for a high-end gaming console.

Xbox Series X vs Xbox Series S

The Series S, meanwhile, looks more like the earlier Xbox One S – it even has a similar grille on the top (when horizontal). The familiar design is aesthetically pleasing, although it does look like a loudspeaker when stood vertically. That grill is super important, though, as it allows the Series S to cool itself off. Thus, we recommend not putting anything on it.

Processing and graphics

Both the Xbox Series X and Series S are powered by a custom AMD Zen 2 eight-core processor, but the Series X CPU runs at 3.8GHz per core (3.6GHz with multi-threading) and the Series S at 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with multi-threading).

They differ even more greatly in the graphics processing, with the Series X sporting 12 TFLOPS (52CUs at 1.825GHz) of RDNA 2 graphics power. The Series S will have 4 TFLOPS (20CUs at 1.565GHz) of RDNA 2 graphics.

The amount of RAM is also different between machines. The flagship console has 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, while its stablemate has 10GB.

Ray tracing is supported by both, but while the Series X is able to run games at a 4K resolution natively, the Series S is effectively locked at a maximum of 1440p for gaming. Both consoles will run games at 60fps natively, although are capable of up to 120fps, usually by dropping the resolution.

Even with its lower-spec though, the Series S supports variable refresh rates (VRR) and shading, just like its sibling.

Storage

In terms of storage, both have an SSD for faster load times and the rest of the abilities that solid-state drives (SSD) can offer. They also each support Xbox’s quick resume feature, which can pause up to six games or so at a time, allowing users to instantly continue where they left off or switch between them.

The Series X comes with a 1TB internal SSD, plus USB 3.1 support.

In comparison, the Series S has a smaller 512GB SSD to keep costs down. That gives it the same superfast loading times and other features, but consider that many games these days are between 80-100GB in size, so it’ll fil up much more quickly.

Fortunately, you can expand the storage. Both Seagate and Western Digital supply expansion cards that work on both the Series S and the Series X. They are pricey but come with up to 2TB of extra storage. The expansion cards also act as internal storage, so you get all the Xbox Enhanced features for games you transfer there.

Both consoles support external USB 3.0 drives (and above) – although they won’t work with the faster loading times of the internal/Storage Expansion Card nor enable any Xbox Series X/S optimizations on games. They are best used, therefore, to store Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games.

You can have up to three external hard drives connected at once.

Controller

• Both consoles: 1x AA-battery powered controller included
• Both consoles: Also compatible with Xbox One controllers

A new Xbox Wireless controller ships with the Xbox Series X and the one with the Series S is no different – just a different color. We have a whole explainer on the new Xbox controllers if you want to learn more. It is also available to buy separately and works with legacy Xbox One consoles too.

Games and accessories

• Both consoles: Backwards compatible with Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games
• Both consoles: Also compatible with all Xbox One accessories

Very nearly all Xbox games — be they Xbox One, original Xbox or Xbox 360 — will work across the entire family of consoles. The only exceptions will be those that require Kinect. That includes the Series X and Series S, with games featuring enhanced graphics and other platform talents. You’ll commonly see these referred to as “Optimized for Xbox Series S/X“.

Microsoft’s games library subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, is available for both Series S and X, with EA Play and cloud gaming also part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, making for a very compelling subscription service.

All Xbox One accessories and headsets will work on the new consoles.

Home Entertainment

• Both consoles: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), HDR (high dynamic range), Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos
• Xbox Series X: 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray drive
• Xbox Series S: No drive, digital-only

There is no physical disc drive on the Series S. The Series X (like the existing One X and One S) sports a 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray drive for games and movie playback alike. They both support HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, for video and games. However, Dolby Vision will not work during 4K Blu-ray playback.

Which Xbox is best for you?

The recommendations here are pretty clear-cut. The Xbox Series X is the premier console and, if you can get it, will be objectively the better system for playing video games. It has more processing power, a disc drive, more storage out of the box, more robust cooling, and it can game at 4K, 120 Hz, with HDR and VRR. It’s the complete package and the best console Microsoft has to offer at this time. It’s the one we recommend.

Microsoft Xbox Series X

Editor’s Choice

The Series S, meanwhile, is still an excellent machine for the money. For a lot of folks, the difference between 1440p upscaled to 4K and native 4K isn’t different enough to write home about and not everyone wants disc games anymore. Pop an expansion card in this bad boy, and you have plenty of space for games. It’s also the superior Xbox for beginners, kids, and folks who don’t play a ton of different games.

Microsoft Xbox Series S

Still a great choice