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Same hardware, new price. Xbox Series X jumped to $799.99 in August 2026 after Microsoft cited a memory and storage shortage. Still the most powerful console available, but the math only clearly works for existing Game Pass and Xbox users now.
Xbox Series X – Gaming Console
Reviewed by Chue Len, Lead Editorial
Updated August 23, 2026
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Specifications
Chue Len
Oversees all editorial content on the site, keeping coverage accurate, timely, and on-brand.
Been mapping out Vice City since the first trailer dropped, still finds something new on every pass through the map.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 12.15 TFLOPS is still the highest raw GPU output of any current-gen console on the market
- Quick Resume switches between multiple games instantly, no reloading
- Four generations of backward compatibility, more than any competitor offers
- Game Pass changes the actual cost of gaming if you play more than a handful of titles a year
Cons
- $799.99 now sits $50 above a PS5 Pro and roughly $300 above a PS5 Digital Edition
- Microsoft has raised this price three times in fifteen months. Nobody can promise it stops here.
- Fewer must-play exclusives than PlayStation right now, and that gap hasn't closed
- Tower design eats more shelf space than the Series S or PS5 Slim
How We Tested It
We haven't run our own extended test on this exact unit. Specs above come directly from Xbox Wire and Microsoft's official documentation, and pricing is confirmed against Xbox's own June 25, 2026 announcement. If your team has hands-on time with a unit, replace this section with real notes: how Quick Resume handles four titles at once, actual load times on your own connection, and whether the fan noise holds up under a long session. That's the section readers trust most, and it's worth filling in properly rather than leaving as a spec summary.
Who It's For
People already inside the Xbox ecosystem. An active Game Pass subscription, a library of Xbox One games you still play, friends who game on Xbox. If GPU horsepower matters more to you than exclusive titles, this still wins that argument on paper. If you're starting fresh with zero console loyalty, the price gap to PS5 is hard to justify right now.
Our Verdict
Nothing about the hardware changed on August 1. The Series X is still the most powerful console you can buy, Quick Resume still saves real time, and four-generation backward compatibility still beats anything Sony or Nintendo offers. What changed is the math. At $799.99, this costs $150 more than it did in July and sits above a PS5 Pro. Microsoft says memory costs forced its hand, and that's likely true given every other console maker is facing the same shortage. It doesn't make the console worse. It makes the decision harder for anyone not already committed to the ecosystem. Existing Xbox and Game Pass users: this is still a strong buy. New buyers with no console preference: the PS5 lineup is doing more for less money right now.