We already know what the next-gen Xbox console will look like, thanks to Microsoft, which revealed the design last month. However, the company did not show the rear of the console, so there is no information on what the console looks like from behind, including the number of ports and other details. This changed yesterday after AMD revealed the 360-degree view of the Xbox Series X at its CES 2020 keynote. However, it later turned out that the chip maker showed the fake Xbox Series X render.
Fake Xbox Series X render
The back side of the Xbox Series X, which AMD showed during its CES presentation, looked very similar to the Xbox One X. Just like the current-gen console, the render showed the backside with two HDMI ports, two USB ports, optical audio and Ethernet. On the front, there was a USB-A.
AMD just gave us a look at the rear of the Xbox Series X. It has ethernet, 2X USB-C and 2X HDMI pic.twitter.com/NV6y40ncGC
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) January 6, 2020
At the time, everyone believed that what AMD showed during the presentation was, in fact, the real image of the Xbox Series X. Later, however, Microsoft denied that the render that AMD showed was not real and was not taken from the official source. In a statement, Microsoft confirmed that the fake Xbox Series X render was in fact taken from TurboSquid, a repository for 3D files.
Later, AMD also confirmed that the image used in the presentation was from Turbosquid.com. “The Xbox Series X imagery used during the AMD CES press conference was not sourced from Microsoft and does not accurately represent the design or features of the upcoming console,” an AMD spokesperson told The Verge.
so this is a royal f up by AMD…someone took an image from a 3d rendering site, slapped it in their promo video and thought nothing of it…
— Brad Sams (@bdsams) January 7, 2020
Though the whole drama settled after the confirmation from AMD, it did tarnish AMD’s image. Also, it is not known why AMD took the image from TurboSquid, and not directly from Microsoft. Microsoft’s Xbox Series X will come with a custom-designed CPU, which will be based on AMD’s Zen 2 and Radeon RDNA architecture.
What makes AMD’s mistake a blunder is that just hours before AMD’s CES keynote, Xbox chief Phil Spencer revealed an image of the Series X with a photo of the AMD processor inside, calling the processor his lucky “coin.” The image showed that the main part of the chip is comparatively bigger than the one in the Xbox One X.
Apart from this, the image did not reveal any more new information. However, the chip carried an 8K stamp, suggesting Microsoft plans supporting this resolution at some point in the future.
How much will it cost?
Microsoft will officially come out with the console in Holiday 2020. The console will ship with a new controller, which will have a new “Share” button, something similar to the one in PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4. As of now, there is only one confirmed launch title for the Xbox Series X, and that is Halo Infinite.
The Series X would be eight times faster than the base Xbox One, or we can say twice as fast as the Xbox One X. The next-gen Xbox console will support 8K gaming, ray tracing, variable refresh rate and frame rates of up to 120 fps in games. Microsoft’s console will also use an NVMe SSD, which would help boost load times. The console will be backwards compatible with all three previous generations of Xbox console.
Microsoft has already revealed most of the details about the next-gen console, but one important piece of information (apart from the rear of the console) that is still missing, is the price. The company has been quiet on the actual price, but there have been a few hints on the price front.
In June, Microsoft’s Jason Ronald noted that the company knows what buyers see as a reasonable price for the console. However, the executive suggested that the next-gen console would be a high-end gadget. Spencer made similar comments in November, suggesting that the company won’t repeat past mistakes of being more expensive and less powerful, rather assured that they “will not be out of position on power or price.”
“I would say a learning from the Xbox One generation is we will not be out of position on power or price,” Spencer told The Verge earlier. “If you remember the beginning of this generation we were a hundred dollars more expensive and, yes, we were less powerful.
