According to Xbox head, Phil Spencer, the console for Microsoft's forthcoming Project Scorpio contains far more power than a current generation Xbox One system.

It's no secret at this point that Microsoft is developing a console code named Project Scorpio that's supposedly stronger than the Xbox One in myriad ways, as the company used its press conference for E3 2016 to officially announce its existence. Of course, now that the system has finally been revealed to the public after rumors of it being in development, the tech firm has been releasing information to detail exactly how much more powerful Project Scorpio is when compared to a current generation Xbox One.

So far, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, Phil Spencer, has explained that Project Scorpio's hardware has the ability to make some current Xbox One games' visuals look better, and has promised fans that the console is much more than a simple upgrade to what's on the market right now. Even so, the company has yet to divulge Project Scorpio's specs in full, but that hasn't stopped Spencer from declaring the system to be 4.5 times more powerful than the original Xbox One.

As seen in conversation with the fine folks at Giant Bomb in the video below (the interview begins at the 23 minute mark), Spencer states in a rather declarative manner, "Scorpio is more powerful than the original Xbox [One], four-and-a-half times, and the six teraflops will impact the games and how they play." During the discussion, the Xbox boss also covered how Scorpio will be primed to play all existing Xbox One games, though it is possible there will be some titles developed only for the forthcoming hardware.

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Also during the interview, the Xbox boss mentioned the fact that Microsoft almost released a new console this year. However, the tech firm dropped the idea due to developers' belief it would be better to wait until it was sure it could deliver a console with six teraflops.

Additionally, Spencer has confirmed that Project Scorpio is a "true 4K" console with the capacity to deliver "high-fidelity VR." Not to mention, the system is believed to have more RAM and improved memory bandwidth over the Xbox One's 8GB DDR3, in addition to an improved CPU. With this being the case, it's been speculated that Scorpio will work more efficiently than Sony's PlayStation 4 Neo, which is reported to feature a 4.2 teraflop GPU, thus making Microsoft's new system about 40% faster.

While it seems as if Project Scorpio might have a definitive edge over the PS4 Neo in terms of raw power and visuals, it's important to note that Spencer has also said that 4K games are not mandatory for the Microsoft system, as the company cannot force developers to make releases at a certain resolution. Plus, should gamers wish to purchase a Scorpio upon its release, it will be necessary to own a 4K TV to receive the system's full impact. Taking all of this into consideration, the best course of action for fans to take at the moment is to wait until concrete evidence of the Scorpio running games comes to light—whether through demos or video footage—before casting judgment.

The Scorpio is set to go on sale during the 2017 holidays, but a price has not been established as of yet.

Source: Giant Bomb - YouTube (via Digital Foundry, Videogamer)