Xbox Leak: Microsoft Is Planning Xbox Series X and Series S Refreshes in 2024, New Controller With Gyro

The all-digital Xbox Series X refresh is cylindrically shaped and comes with 2TB storage.

Written by Rahul Chettiyar, Edited by Manas Mitul | Updated: 20 September 2023 12:11 IST

Xbox Leak: Microsoft Is Planning Xbox Series X and Series S Refreshes in 2024, New Controller With Gyro

Photo Credit: Akhil Arora/ Gadgets 360

The current Xbox Series X, and Xbox Wireless Controller

Highlights

The Xbox Series X refresh is planned for October 2024 at $499
Xbox Series S will get an upgraded 1TB storage
Microsoft is planning its next-gen console release for 2028

Microsoft is planning a mid-gen refresh for its Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, eyeing a release in 2024. A series of leaked court documents from the Microsoft vs. US FTC trial revealed a roadmap and concept images for its upcoming set of gaming systems, which also includes a new controller with gyro and haptic feedback. Codenamed ‘Brooklin,' the all-digital Xbox Series X boasts the same horsepower as the existing version, albeit lacking a disc drive. The console is cylindrically shaped and comes with a generous 2TB storage — up from 1TB — which I'm guessing is an SSD. It'll bear the same price tag of $499/ Rs. 54,990 and is slated to drop in late October, next year.

The leaked slides also promise faster Wi-Fi 6E for low latency and reduced power consumption by 15 percent. Last month, Xbox boss Phil Spencer claimed in an interview that the company had no plans for a mid-gen refresh and that it was largely focused on increasing the storage on the Xbox Series S, which currently stands at 512GB. Now we know that ‘Ellewood,' a refresh for the less-expensive Xbox Series S is planned for August 2024, priced at $299/ Rs. 34,990 and a 1TB internal storage. The form factor and other hardware capabilities, however, remain the same with 10GB of RAM, which has recently been causing issues for developers. Larian Studios previously stated that the technical limitations of the Xbox Series S are preventing them from adding split-screen co-op in Baldur's Gate 3, indirectly leading to a delayed release on the Xbox ecosystem.

Xbox Series X Refresh/mid-gen info leaked thanks to FTC documents https://t.co/3KHgiOnQJd

-Xbox Series X refresh digital only (2TB storage), target launch Oct 2024
-New Xbox controller with gyro

Source from attachments in PDF https://t.co/tuikvo2h5F pic.twitter.com/fFzEbepHdl
— Wario64 (@Wario64) September 19, 2023

“We've seen the conversation around old emails and documents,” Spencer acknowledged the leaks in a tweet. “It is hard to see our team's work shared in this way because so much has changed and there's so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready.” As mentioned before, the leak also included plans for ‘Sebile,' the new Xbox controller which despite bearing a similar look and layout to the existing wireless variants, features some changes to enhance immersion while gaming. There's precision haptic feedback similar to PS5's DualSense controller. Buttons will generally be quieter and the support for gyro should let us control in-game movement by simply tilting the gamepad in certain directions. I'm assuming any studios under Xbox will be asked to consider the latter feature for any future titles.

The leaked documents have also revealed that Xbox is planning its next-gen console for 2028, which goes in line with Spencer's comments during the Activision Blizzard acquisition trial from June. As reported by The Verge, the company is describing it as a hybrid gaming platform that relies on the cloud “to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences.” Xbox seems to be eyeing AMD's Zen 6 CPUs for the console's processing power and Navi 5 graphics. The roadmap indicates that hardware design will start next year, while the first dev kits will be sent out in 2027. Bear in mind that these plans could always change.

What are the most exciting titles that gamers can look forward to in 2023? We discuss some of our favourites on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Microsoft Xbox Series X

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Good
Really powerful
Delivers constant 4K 60fps
Reduced loading times
Great backward compatibility
Support for Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos
Capable of 8K / 120fps
Network transfer feature

Bad
Expensive
Lack of truly next-gen exclusives
Not a generation leap over Xbox One X at launch
Proprietary storage expansion
No rechargeable battery with controller
Implementation of Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos

Read detailed Microsoft Xbox Series X review

HDD 1TB PCie Gen 4 NVME SSD

Processor Custom 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8GHz

Graphics Custom AMD RDNA 2 GPU 52 CUs @ 1.825GHz

RAM 16GB GDDR6

USB 3

Weight 4.45kg

Ethernet Gigabit

More Microsoft Gaming Consoles

Microsoft Xbox Series S

KEY SPECS
NEWS

HDD 512GB PCie Gen 4 NVME SSD

Processor Custom 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8GHz

Graphics Custom AMD RDNA 2 GPU 20 CUs @ 1.565GHz

RAM 10GB GDDR6 RAM

More Microsoft Gaming Consoles

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