Xbox Series S: why it costs $250 less than a Series X

Xbox hardware got more expensive in recent months, and the Series S is still the cheap one. Engadget reports the digital-only console starts at $500, while the cheapest Series X model is $750. The $250 gap between them comes down to hardware rather than marketing.

The hikes are not an Xbox thing. Engadget notes the PlayStation 5 has gone up twice in a year and that the Switch 2 carried a higher price tag in 2026, with component costs climbing during the memory shortage the outlet calls “RAMaggedon.”

Here is the one-line version of who each console is for. If you download everything and play through Game Pass, you will never miss a disc drive, and the Series S saves you $250. If you buy games on discs, borrow them or trade them in, you need the Series X.

What the extra $250 buys

The most obvious cut is the disc drive. The Series S has none. There is a Series X model without one too, and it costs $50 less than the standard version, but inside it is the same machine.

Storage is the second cut. The Series S comes with 512GB, and a 1TB model costs $100 more. The Series X ships with 1TB. Microsoft discontinued the 2TB Series X in 2026. Either console takes a storage expansion card that slots in at the back.

Then there is the silicon. Engadget puts the Series X at 12 teraflops of processing power and a 4K target for games, against 4 teraflops and up to 1440p in most titles on the Series S. Both can reach 120 fps in games that support it. The Series S upscales to 4K rather than rendering at it.

The details behind those numbers point the same way. Both consoles use a custom AMD Zen 2 CPU, but the Series X chip runs at a higher clock. Both use an AMD RDNA 2 GPU, with 52 compute units on the Series X against 20 on the Series S. The Series X carries 16GB of RAM, 10GB of it at 560 GB/s and 6GB at 336 GB/s. The Series S has 10GB, with 8GB at 224 GB/s and 2GB at 56 GB/s.

The Series S is also about 60 percent smaller, which matters if your entertainment center is already full.

At $500, the Series S matches the Switch 2 as the cheapest modern console, and it still runs 120 fps in supported games.

Our verdict

**Series S: Buy**, unless you want discs or a native 4K picture. At $500 it ties the Switch 2 as the cheapest modern console, and the performance gap only shows up in games you may not play.

**Series X: Wait**, unless the disc drive is the whole point for you. Engadget puts it ahead on every hardware measure, but the console is nearly six years old, prices went up rather than down, and Microsoft has already named what comes next.

**Reported:** Microsoft plans to send alpha Project Helix hardware to developers in 2027. Engadget expects the finished devices to cost more than a Series X or S, and it says how big the technical jump will be is unknown. That timeline points to at least another year past 2027 before anything reaches a shelf.

Our rule on waiting is simple: only hold off for something with a date. Project Helix has a developer timeline, not a release date. If you want to play this year, buy the Xbox that matches the games you already own.

• consoles
• Microsoft
• Project Helix
• Xbox
• Xbox Series S