Multiple gaming sites are reporting that there will be a beefier Xbox One, as well as a slim model coming in the near future. Kotaku, Polygon, the Verge have sources who have corroborated the information, but there’s been no announcement from Microsoft as of yet.
Polygon received word that the new more powerful Xbox one will be “four times more powerful than the current Xbox One.” Most of the sources have been implying that Sony’s proposed announcement of a new 4K PlayStation 4 has driven Microsoft to make the announcement about their own console. Both are expected to be revealed at E3 in June. In addition to the more powerful console, sources are also reporting that a “slim” version of the current Xbox will also be announced at E3.
According to The Verge, the new model will be “40 percent smaller than the current model and will likely include 4K support.” All of these sources apparently like the number 4. Another bit of speculation floating around is that Microsoft had planned to announce the more powerful model, code-named Scorpio, in 2017, but Sony’s likely announcement has forced them to step up their plans.
One of the initial concerns about the alleged new PS4 was whether or not games would work the same way on both consoles. Everyone thinks the answer to that is yes. Microsoft appears to be no different. Polygon’s sources have said that all Xbox One software will be functional on the new machine. This includes the backwards compatibility for a number of Xbox 360 games.
A slimmer version of the console isn’t really a big surprise. Microsoft redesigned the original Xbox 360 into an Elite version. As noted all of this information has yet to be confirmed by Microsoft.
