All in all, we’d take claims of the Xbox Series S being a 1440p/120 Hz price-performance champ with some salt. There’s just not enough GPU power in the box to deliver that performance level at that resolution for most games that will be built on next-gen tech. Sure, Microsoft’s first party studios and few other developers will reach that target but most third parties won’t. Even the Xbox Series X, with three times the GPU grunt, might have a tough time hitting 120 Hz at 1440p in intensive 9th gen titles.
While those numbers are aspirational, we think Microsoft’s real target with the Xbox Series S is to deliver the first real 1080p/60fps gaming console. Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 promised this and largely failed. With greater GPU and CPU capabilities than either eighth-gen console, we think the Xbox Series S might just fit the bill.