Xbox Series S

The Xbox Series S is not a game but a home video game console made by Microsoft. It belongs to the Xbox Series X|S generation, which launched on November 10, 2020. Microsoft announced the Series S in September 2020 as a smaller, lower-priced alternative to the Xbox Series X. Its design is a compact white rectangular tower with a large black circular vent on one side. Unlike the Series X, it has no disc drive: games and other media must be downloaded or streamed.

The console uses a custom AMD processor with an eight-core Zen 2 CPU and a graphics processor based on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture. Its advertised graphics performance is 4 teraflops, compared with 12 teraflops for the Series X. The Series S is designed primarily for gaming at resolutions up to 1440p, though it can output a 4K signal and supports features such as variable refresh rate and frame rates up to 120 frames per second in compatible games and displays. Actual resolution and performance vary by title; the console does not guarantee that every game runs at 1440p or 120 fps.

The original model contains a 512 GB solid-state drive, but some of that capacity is reserved for system software, leaving less space for installed games. Microsoft later introduced a 1 TB black Series S model in September 2023. Both versions support expandable storage through Microsoft’s proprietary Storage Expansion Card slot and external USB storage. Backward compatibility lets players install and play many Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games, although availability and features differ between titles.

The Series S runs the Xbox operating system and supports Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service for a library of downloadable games. It also supports Xbox Cloud Gaming in regions and circumstances where the service is available. These services are separate from the console itself and may require a subscription, an internet connection, and, for cloud play, compatible network conditions. Digital purchases are associated with a Microsoft account, making the absence of a disc drive especially significant for people with existing physical game collections.

Microsoft’s stated goal for the Series S was to make the current Xbox generation accessible at a lower entry price while retaining newer-generation features such as fast loading from solid-state storage, Quick Resume for switching between supported games, and support for modern graphics technologies. It is therefore best understood as a digital-only member of the Xbox Series family, not simply a smaller Series X: its lower graphics performance, storage capacity, and lack of an optical drive are important practical differences.