Microsoft unveils details of next-generation Xbox set for launch in 2020

E3 Project Scarlett reveal: AMD Zen 2-based CPU with Navi graphics supporting 120 frames-per second and 8K gaming

Microsoft has used the E3 trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada to unveil specifications of its forthcoming Xbox next-generation games console, codenamed Project Scarlett.

The device will sport an AMD Zen 2-based CPU together with Navi graphics using GDDR6 video memory. Microsoft claims that the new console will be four times more powerful than the Xbox One X, the souped-up Xbox the company unveiled in June 2017 and released in August of that year as a stop-gap until its next-generation console is ready.

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As a result, the device will be capable of support 120 frames per second and 8K gaming - although its unlikely it will support 120fps 8K gaming.

In addition to upgrading from hard-disc drive to SSD - reflecting the big fall in SSD prices since the Xbox One was originally launched in 2013 - the SSD will also provide ‘virtual RAM' to improve performance.

Phil Spencer, the executive vice president of gaming at Microsoft who was also behind the less-than-optimal launch of the Xbox, also claimed that the company had learnt its lesson from that launch. "We heard you. A console should be designed and built and optimized for one thing and one thing only: gaming," he said at E3.

However, Project Scarlett won't be able to take discs - it will be download only for new games.

While Spencer didn't reveal the level of backwards compatibility the console might offer, an accompanying press release indicated that "thousands of games across four console generations will look and play best on Project Scarlett".

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