The Xbox One X received an overwhelming response from consumers in the US, UK, and other markets during the holiday shopping season. Now Microsoft has revealed the Xbox One X India launch date and price, giving Indian gamers an exciting new year gift. The world’s most powerful console will be competing against Sony’s PS4 Pro, which was launched in India in February last year at a price tag of INR 38,900.
Xbox One X India launch: Buy the console on Flipkart, Amazon India
According to the Xbox India website, the Xbox One X India launch is set for January 15. Microsoft has since taken down that page. Gadget 360 reports that the console will be sold in India through online retailers Flipkart and Amazon India, though neither of them has started accepting pre-orders yet. Gamers will also be able to buy it at Microsoft-authorized physical retail stores, many of which have already started taking pre-orders. You can find the list of offline retailers on Xbox India website.
The Xbox One X has been priced at INR 44,990 (roughly $715) in India, which is much higher than $499 it costs in the US market. Interestingly, Microsoft’s new console is already available in the gray market in India for around INR 38,000 to INR 42,000, well below the official price tag.
The Xbox One X India launch is taking place roughly two months after the console went on sale in the US market. That’s quite fast considering the Xbox One S was launched in the country about a year and a half after its US launch. The early launch could help Microsoft gain an advantage over its rival Sony in India. The PS4 Pro has been facing supply issues in the country. Many gamers have complained that Sony’s flagship console was still not available in stores despite having launched almost a year ago.
How does Xbox One X compare to gaming PCs?
The Xbox One X is a true 4K console with incredibly powerful specs. It is also the smallest Xbox console ever. It features a custom octa-core processor with a clock speed of 2.3GHz. It has 12GB GDDR5 RAM, 9GB of which is dedicated to games and 3GB for the system. It has an impressive memory bandwidth of 326GB/s compared to the PS4 Pro’s 218GB/s. The Xbox One X comes with six teraflops of graphical power and 1TB of internal storage.
The Xbox One X also features a UHD Blu-ray drive. The new console allows gamers to run the 1080p Xbox One games at native 4K and full 60fps. Even games that don’t run at native 4K offer an enhanced visual experience on the new console compared to older Xbox consoles. It’s because the One X offers better visual fidelity, faster load times, and anisotropic filtering. The Xbox One X is compatible with all the existing Xbox One accessories.
Speaking to GamingBolt, Crytek product manager Collin Bishop said the Xbox One X is a powerful console, but it still cannot be compared to the high-end gaming CPs. Bishop said the One X was comparable to gaming PCs on the GPU end, but PCs still outshine the console when it comes to CPU performance. The performance of AMD Jaguar CPUs is only about “one-third or one-half” of the Ryzen line, said Bishop.
Xbox One X could get mouse and keyboard support soon
Recent reports suggest that the Xbox One X and other Xbox consoles could soon get the keyboard and mouse support. Microsoft Poland announced last month – the announcement was taken down the same day – that users would soon be able to play games using keyboard and mouse. Microsoft Poland said some gamers “prefer to conquer the virtual world with a pad in hand,” others love the “precision of the mouse movements,” while some others prefer playing on a keyboard. Soon, they will be able to choose which accessories they want to use.
At this point, there is little clarity regarding which apps would work with the keyboard and mouse, how they would work, and whether these accessories would provide any distinct advantages to gamers. The keyboard and mouse support could blur the line between console gaming and PC gaming. However, there are a few developers such as Blizzard that have opposed the keyboard and mouse support on consoles.
Xbox consoles not affected by Spectre and Meltdown
Amid revelations that the “Spectre” and “Meltdown” bugs in processors made by Intel, AMD, and ARM have made almost all systems vulnerable to hacking, most Xbox gamers have been worried. The Xbox One consoles are powered by AMD’s Jaguar processors. The Xbox platform head Mike Ybarra told customers that Xbox owners have no reason to worry about the Spectre and Meltdown.
FYI: The security architecture of Xbox already mitigates against the recent chip-related security vulnerabilities. #Xbox
— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) January 5, 2018
Ybarra said the Xbox’s security architecture “already mitigates against the recent chip-related security vulnerabilities.” It means the Xbox is not affected by the Spectre and Meltdown bugs.
