Xbox Series S hard drive size is to keep price low, confirms Microsoft
512GB is the balance between size and cost
by Sam LoveridgeThe 512GB Xbox Series S hard drive is to keep costs low, confirms Microsoft.
Speaking in the leaked Xbox press briefing, head of platform engineering and hardware, Liz Hamren, confirms that the 512GB limit is to keep the price of the Xbox Series S console low - $299 / £249 specifically.
"When we move to SSD technology we get much, much higher performance, but of course that performance comes at a higher cost. Of course, more storage is always better, so we were trying to balance storage drive size as well as cost and we landed on 512[GB]," explains Hamren.
"The Series S also supports the Seagate expansion card, and you can always connect your USB 3.1 drive for additional storage. And we've been working on a number of software features to help you more seamlessly manage your game library between the cloud and your console."
Now note the USB 3.1 reference in there. The current Xbox One X and Xbox One S consoles are compatible with USB 3.0 external hard drives. Does that mean there's a potential for them not to work with the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X?
The Seagate expansion card Hamren talks about is rumoured to start at $220 for a 1TB card, which would quickly push the price of the Xbox Series S plus a card to the price of the Xbox Series X.
We'll have to wait for the official pricing for the Seagate expansion to make a decision though of course, but it's interesting how much of a difference moving to the faster SSD storage makes to the price.
For more info on the Xbox Series S and X, check out the links below: