Microsoft details the hardware capabilities of the Xbox Series X

Oh boy, after months of teasing, rumors, and speculation, the team over at Microsoft has today spilled some major details about their next-gen home console, the Xbox Series X. Confirming prior industry insiders, the next Xbox is going to be powerhouse featuring cutting edge technology only seen in enthusiast gaming PCs up until now.

Unlike previous news about the technical make-up of the Xbox Series X, today’s news is as official as it gets. Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, took to Xbox Wire and penned a detailed article about his company’s future gaming system. We highly suggest reading the entire article, which you can find here. Spencer comprehensively goes into what’s going to make their next-gen system stand out but here’s the quick rundown.

These bullet points might be confusing if you’re not following current technological trends, so let’s break it down. The 12 TF raw computational power align with Windows Central’s leaks and are roughly two times higher than the Xbox One X. But this comparison fails to take the many new technologies into the equation that are simply unavailable for the Xbox One.

We know you expect the next generation of consoles to set new standards in graphical power and processing speed, converging together in games that look incredible and feel alive. This will be defined by worlds that are visually astounding and immediately immersive, with innovative leaps in CPU, GPU and storage technology to give you frictionless access to new stories and new creators constantly.

Things like hardware-based Ray Tracing which is simulating real-world lighting, something that was unheard of in real-time up until just recently. Variable Rate Shading, on the other hand, should help keep performance high by prioritizing areas on the screen that are more important a.k.a. what the player looks at. Of course, the brand-new super-fast SSD storage is also here. It will open up instant game loads and resumes, much shorter installs and updates and possibly larger uninterrupted game worlds.

Besides these technical points, Spencer is also confirming that the Xbox Series X will feature expanded backward compatibility up until the original Xbox. A mighty feat that could potentially earn the new console a gigantic game library Day 1 when it launched later this year, during the Holiday season.