Microsoft's Xbox Series X will arrive this fall — here's what you should know before you preorder

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• The Xbox Series X, Microsoft's next generation video game console, is launching during the 2020 holiday season.
• Microsoft hasn't confirmed the exact price and release date of the Xbox Series X, but production of the $400 Xbox One X has been discontinued.
• The Xbox Series X will replace the Xbox One as Microsoft's flagship console, but new Xbox games will continue to work on the Xbox One.
• We'll update this post as soon as Xbox Series X pricing and preorder details become available.

The Xbox Series X, Microsoft's next generation video game console, will launch in fall 2020 with "Halo Infinite" and more than a dozen new games. Microsoft hasn't confirmed the exact release date or price just yet, outside of specifying "holiday season 2020."

The Xbox Series X will replace the Xbox One X as Microsoft's flagship console and will be backwards compatible with all Xbox One games and controllers on release. Older games will see significant graphical improvements on the Xbox Series X, including support for 120 frames per second playback. Microsoft says the Xbox Series X will be capable of playing thousands of games from the original Xbox and Xbox 360 at launch.

So far, Xbox fans can look forward to "Halo Infinite," a new "Fable" game, "Assassin's Creed Valhalla," and more than a dozen other games coming to the Xbox Series X and Xbox One in November.

Though full details on pricing and availability for the Xbox Series X are still forthcoming, we've broken down everything we know so far about how to buy the console. We'll update this article with more preorder information as it's announced.

Xbox Series X price

Microsoft

An official price for the Xbox Series X has not been announced yet, but you can expect to find the console at all major retailers when it's released this fall.

Several stores, including Amazon, Best Buy, Microsoft, Target, and GameStop, have already launched landing pages to keep buyers up to date about preorders. Be sure to check back for more information when the price and exact release date are announced.

Microsoft is reportedly working on another new Xbox console that will be slightly weaker than the Series X with a lower price tag, too. That project is reportedly codenamed "Lockhart" and could be announced as soon as August.

Xbox Series X specifications and features

Microsoft

Microsoft says the Xbox Series X is about twice as strong as the Xbox One X and more than eight times as powerful as the original Xbox One released in 2013. The Series X will also boast significantly faster load times thanks to a new solid-state hard drive. The SSD will allow for new features like Quick Resume, which lets you save multiple games in a suspended state similar to rest mode.

Another new feature is "Smart Delivery" — a process that lets Xbox owners swap between the Series X and Xbox One versions of games, like "Halo Infinite" and "Gears 5," to get the best possible quality on both consoles with no extra cost.

Because of smart delivery, Microsoft says there won't be any games that are truly exclusive to the Xbox Series X for a year or longer. Every new Xbox release in 2020 will still be available on Xbox One, but the Series X versions will have improved visuals thanks to Smart Delivery.