After the August price hike, the Series S starts at $499.99 and the cheapest Series X at $749.99. Here's what the extra money actually buys.
The Xbox Series S now starts at $499.99 in the US, while the cheapest Series X, the Digital model, costs $749.99 and the disc version $799.99. Microsoft raised prices on August 1, blaming memory and storage costs that it says have more than doubled.
The gap comes from hardware. The Series S is digital-only, has 512GB of storage in its base model, 4 teraflops of power and 10GB of RAM. The Series X has 12 teraflops, 16GB of RAM and 1TB, and it targets native 4K.
Don't expect a price cut soon: Microsoft says component costs could double again by fall 2027.
A console nearly six years old would normally be getting cheaper. Instead, the cheapest Xbox Series S now costs $499.99, and the least expensive Series X costs $749.99. That gap leaves the Series S tied with the Nintendo Switch 2 as the cheapest current-generation console you can buy.
If you’re choosing between the two Xbox models this holiday season, that gap is real money. The good news is that it isn’t arbitrary. The Xbox Series S price compared to the Series X comes down to a disc drive, storage and some very different chips inside, and for plenty of players the cheaper box gives up less than you’d think.
Microsoft raised Xbox prices on August 1, 2026, adding $100 to every 512GB model and $150 to every 1TB model in the US. It also dropped the 2TB Series X. US prices now look like this:
In the UK, the 512GB Series S is £429.99 and the Series X Digital is £619.99, while the disc version of the Series X is £669.99. Microsoft says console memory and storage prices have gone up more than 2.5 times and that it expects them to double again by the fall of 2027. It also points out that consoles usually sell for less than they cost to build.
Xbox isn’t alone. Sony has raised PS5 prices more than once, most recently to $600 for the Digital Edition and $650 for the disc model, and Nintendo lifted the Switch 2 to $500 in the US from September 1.
The Series S is cheaper mainly because Microsoft put less hardware inside. The most visible cut is the disc drive: the Series S is digital-only, so every game comes as a download or through Game Pass. The Series X Digital also skips the drive, but that only trims $50, because the rest of the Series X hardware stays identical.
The bigger savings are under the hood. Both consoles use a custom AMD Zen 2 processor and an AMD RDNA 2 graphics chip, but the Series X runs its processor at a higher speed and has 52 compute units in its graphics chip against 20 in the Series S. Compute units are the building blocks that do the graphics work, so more of them means more power.
That shows up in headline numbers. The Series X delivers 12 teraflops of processing power and aims for 4K, while the Series S manages 4 teraflops and runs most games at up to 1440p. Memory follows the same pattern: 16GB of RAM in the Series X, with 10GB at 560 GB per second, against 10GB in the Series S, of which 8GB runs at 224 GB per second.
Storage is the last piece. The base Series S has 512GB, which fills up quickly with modern games, while the Series X comes with 1TB. Either console can add space with an expansion card that plugs into the back.
The main trade-off is sharpness. The Series S can upscale games to 4K, but it doesn’t render them natively at that resolution, so on a big 4K TV the image will look softer than on a Series X. Demanding games will also run with fewer visual extras.
What you keep matters just as much. Both consoles can hit 120 frames per second in games that support it, so fast shooters and racers can still feel smooth. The Series S is also about 60 percent smaller, which makes it far easier to fit under a TV or in a bedroom.
For most families and casual players, the Series S is the sensible buy. If you mostly play through Game Pass, don’t own a shelf of discs and don’t mind 1440p, the $499.99 model covers you. Spend the extra $100 on the 1TB version if you install lots of big games.
The Series X earns its price if you have a 4K TV and care about the best picture, or if you buy discs, including used games and disc sales. In that case, the $799.99 disc model is the one to get, since the Digital version saves only $50.
If you already own an Xbox you rarely use, Microsoft has been emailing some inactive owners about trading in through Best Buy, with reported values of up to $375 for a Series X in excellent condition and around $200 at most for a Series S.
Waiting is an option, but not a cheap or quick one. Microsoft’s next family of devices, Project Helix, is expected to cost more than either current model. Microsoft plans to start sending early alpha hardware to developers in 2027, which suggests the finished consoles are at least a year beyond that.
Demand for current hardware is clearly soft. US video game hardware sales in August hit their lowest level for that month since 2013, with 559,000 units sold across all platforms, and Xbox hardware fell 31% from a year earlier, its weakest August since 2020.
In the US, the 512GB Series S costs $499.99, well below the $749.99 Series X Digital and the $799.99 disc version.
It can upscale to 4K, but it doesn’t render games natively in 4K. Most games run at up to 1440p, though many still reach 120 frames per second.
Microsoft hasn’t announced a price cut. It says memory and storage costs are still rising and expects them to double again by fall 2027.
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