The next Xbox ‘should be stronger than PS6’ but more expensive, report claims

The next Xbox console may be more powerful than the PlayStation 6, but will be more expensive as a result of this.

That’s according to a new report by Moore’s Law is Dead [MLID], who recently posted a video showing what he claims to be the main processor for the next Xbox console.

The AMD Magnus APU – an APU combines a CPU and GPU on a single chip – will be the largest one ever used in a games console, according to the YouTuber, who claims that it will be 46% larger than the one allegedly planned for PlayStation 6.

The report claims that as a result of this, the next Xbox is likely to be more powerful than the PS6, but will naturally cost more money as a consequence of this.

The reason for this, according to MLID, is that – as per previous speculation – Microsoft is reportedly positioning the next Xbox console to be a hybrid system capable of not only playing games on the Xbox Store, but also PC games on other stores.

“It should be stronger than the PS6, but at the same time, it will also be more expensive because of this larger size and its use of bridge dies and likely a larger RAM capacity compared to the PS6, at least if it wants to work well as a PC console hybrid,” he explained.

Stressing that he doesn’t know confirmed clock speeds yet for the Magnus APU, MLID stated that if Microsoft pushed it to its limits he thinks it would “end up notably faster than PlayStation 6” but stressed: “However, even in extreme scenarios, I don’t think it will be more than about a third faster than the PlayStation 6 console.”

Noting that the difference in general leaps is producing ever diminishing returns, MLID added: “Don’t forget that even in an extreme situation, the next-gen Xbox, though faster, is probably less of a difference than even Xbox One X to PS4 Pro, so most true console gamers probably won’t care if they’re gaming on a big screen TV, on a couch.”

Further leaning on his console-PC hybrid claim, MLID suggested that the main difference in power between both systems will probably be more noticeable on a monitor rather than a TV.

“On average, I do expect Xbox Magnus to basically be a more premium version of the same performance you would get from a PS6,” he said.

“For example, if a given PS6 game was running 4K 120fps with ray tracing on – and of course it would also have FSR4 or something to get there – I would suspect that Magnus would, instead of doing 4K 120fps, do like 4K 144fps. Like, it could do 20% higher frame rates, which doesn’t matter on a big screen TV really, but does matter if you’re gaming on a monitor on your desk, which Magnus will be more meant for than the PlayStation.”

“So yeah,” he concluded, “that’s how I look at Magnus versus the PlayStation [6]. Roughly same performance, but will gave PC gamers stuff they would appreciate that could outperform the PS6, but probably only in scenarios PC gamers would care about.”

Elsewhere in the video, predicting that the new Xbox console will likely cost between $800 and $1200, MLID stated that he was excited about its potential to not only produce the best performance on a console games, but also to force PC companies to start lowering prices on OEM / pre-built computers.

“This is going to be viewed, I believe, as a cost-optimised mass-produced device that can potentially put a check on OEMs and pre-builts overcharging for their gaming desktops,” he explained.

“For example, let’s say that Asus wants to sell you a pre-built with an RTX 4070 in it for $2,500. How could they possibly get away with something like that if there is an Xbox console out there that runs some version of full Windows 11 and actually has RTX 5080 or better raster and possibly around RTX 5090 ray tracing performance.

“Well, the answer is Asus won’t be able to get away with that any more. If there’s an Xbox hybrid console that costs $1,200 or, heck, even $1,500, this will spank OEMs and keep their prices and their greed in check, which is good for PC gamers.”