Despite the brand's blunders over the course of the previous console generation, Xbox has been seemingly revitalized ever since the inception of Xbox Series X and S consoles, back in 2020. Ever since, Microsoft has been hard at work leveraging its newfound strength, and sources are now claiming that the next revision of Xbox Series X might be more efficient than ever before.
Specifically, tech journalist Brad Sams seems to be convinced that Microsoft has got a smaller, more efficient version of the Xbox Series X silicon in the pipeline, and that it should be reasonably far along by now. While this might sound like incredibly exciting news at first, the truth is likely to be more mundane after all.
According to Sams, who claims that he "knows" that Microsoft was working on a revision of the Series X chip, these optimizations are highly unlikely to lead to performance improvements in games. In fact, Sams went so far as to say that, even if future Xbox Series X console revisions do get the purported upgraded chip, they are still likely to use the same chassis and blueprint design, except more efficient. No telling if this is related to rumors of new Xbox hardware getting announced later in 2022, either.
Of course, there's the third rumor to take into account as well: the mysterious Xbox Codename Keystone. While Sams' claims of there being a more effective and efficient Xbox Series X chip could affect the potential development of a new Xbox console, the journalist himself was careful to dampen the hype: these alterations won't generally be felt by regular gamers, and Keystone - if it ever comes to fruition - is likely more substantial than a relatively small-scale Series X revision.
Virtually every console receives several hardware revisions over the course of its lifetime, and though it's entirely possible that Microsoft eventually pushes out a smaller or slimmer version of the Xbox Series X, it may still be too early for that to happen. To that end, the alleged chip optimizations might not lead to any chassis changes right off the bat, and they're almost certainly not going to make games coming out on Xbox in the future run better.
That said, Microsoft could be interested in launching a digital-only Xbox Series X in the future, which would then almost certainly be equipped with the chip that Sams believes is being developed, and could have a profile more similar to the Series S due to not needing a physical disc drive. With PS5 having sold nearly twice as many units as Xbox Series X, Microsoft is sure to be looking at ways to make its console even more appealing, and this may be one of the steps the company is taking to achieve that goal.