Not only has Microsoft’s Xbox One fallen far behind the PlayStation 4 in games console sales, it has fresh and cheaper competition from this year’s new Apple TV. Interestingly, however, rumor suggests that Microsoft could be planning to release a smaller and cheaper version of the Xbox One next year.
It appears to be primarily Apple, rather than Sony, that the Redmond firm has in its sights here. WrIting for Petri IT Knowledgebase, Microsoft-centric journalist Brad Sams has reported hearing “from internal sources” that the company is considering a “lightweight Xbox One” that could offer strictly games from the Windows Store, rather than the disc-based games that are the standard console’s bread and butter.
Sams concedes that the idea could have been abandoned – but that, if this smaller console is indeed launched, it won’t be until the second half of 2016, when it would carry “a much lower price point than the Xbox One”.
Such a product would surely not only enable the Xbox platform to better compete with the Apple TV on price, but also encourage more people to enter the wider Microsoft ecosystem – especially considering that the Xbox One is itself essentially powered by Windows 10.
