Over the last few days, Xbox has been in the news quite a bit. With their secret Xbox Series S console leaked, Microsoft was forced to announce the console and its price: $299.
Unfortunately, we have bad news for those hoping for a R5000 price tag. The console will cost R6999 in South Africa, that’s R2000 more than the $299 US price.
Now officially official: Xbox Series S. Next-gen performance in the smallest Xbox ever. R6 999 (RRP). #Xbox #XboxSeriesS pic.twitter.com/HiSQGqhM7t
— Xbox South Africa (@XboxZA) September 9, 2020
The Xbox Series S, which is the smaller, maybe less attractive, sibling to the Xbox Series X, is meant to offer a more affordable console to those gamers who are cash strapped. And, while it’s still more affordable than a PS4 Pro, R7999 is still a higher price point than some bargained for.
That said, when you sit back and think about it, you’re getting a next-gen console – with a lot of the bells and whistles – for less than the current price of a Nintendo Switch.
Below is the Xbox Series S hardware specifications, as they’re known so far:
| Processor | 8x Cores @ 3.8 GHz (3.66 GHz w/ SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU |
| Graphics | 4 TFLOPS, 20 CUs @ 1.55 GHz Custom RDNA 2 GPU |
| Memory | 10 GB GDDR6 |
| Internal Storage | 512 GB Custom NVME SSD |
| Expandable Storage | 1 TB Expansion Card |
| External Storage | USB 3.2 External HDD Support |
| Optical Drive | None |
| Performance Target | Up to 1440p @ 120 FPS |
| Color | Matte White, Black |
| Dimensions | Unknown (60% smaller than Xbox Series X) |
| Release date | November 10, 2020 |
| Price | $299, £249, €299 |
We imagine that the R6999 price adjustment is due to tax, shipping and import duties. With a weaker rand in 2020, we can expect to pay a lot more for consoles and game releases moving forward.
Considering that the Xbox Series X costs $499 in the US, we could possibly be looking at a R10 000 or R12 000 price tag locally.
What do you think about the price of the Xbox Series S in South Africa? Is it affordable? Will you be purchasing the console?
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