Does Xbox Series S Support 4K?

Microsoft changed things around drastically in the gaming console scene when they launched two different versions of Xbox for this generation i.e. Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

They both have a drastic difference in performance with the Series X being more powerful at 12 Teraflops of GPU raw power and the Series S being weaker at 4 Teraflops of GPU raw power.

With such a huge gap in performance, one begs to ask “does Xbox Series S support 4K resolution?”. The short answer is, unfortunately, no. Xbox Series S DOES NOT support 4K resolution.

You may have already guessed it given how weak Xbox Series S is compared to the flagship 9th gen gaming consoles i.e. Series X and PS5.

Let us take a deeper look into this question:

Comparison of Teraflops and Series S Performance

One of the primary metrics used in measuring the performance of a graphics card in the context of a gaming console is how much Teraflops of raw GPU power it has.

This metric can tell you where a certain gaming console stands in the performance hierarchy.

The following table shows you the Teraflops of different gaming consoles from the previous and current-gen.

If you feel disappointed looking at the Teraflops of the Xbox Series S, you are not alone.

Xbox Series S has a GPU rated at 4 Teraflops. This is the lowest for the current generation of consoles (PS5 and Series X) and surprisingly EVEN lower than some of the consoles of the previous generation.

You can see that both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X have higher Teraflops in comparison. The One X particularly is 50% more advanced in Teraflops as compared to the Series S.

As such, you can only imagine the kind of performance you’d be able to expect from Xbox Series S.

So Does Xbox Series S Support 4K?

As far as the basic support goes, meaning if you hook an Xbox Series S to a 4K TV, then yes, the image will conform to 4K resolution.

While the image above is an exaggeration, this is how the gaming community sees native 4K (real 4K) vs upscale 4K (fake 4K).

HOWEVER, there is a HUGE difference between NATIVE 4K and UPSCALE 4K graphics.

Xbox Series S does NOT support 4K resolution NATIVELY. It only supports 1440P or 1080P resolution.

The Series X is designed for games with resolutions of up to 4K, while the Series S has less-powerful graphics hardware designed more for 1080p and sometimes 1440p visuals. – NYTIMES.com

It can, however, upscale the game from 1440P to 4K when hooked to a 4K TV. But, of course, the quality will suffer.

Plus upscaling is not something new. This was introduced with the previous-gen consoles as well. Even the previous-gen Xbox One X can upscale games from a lower resolution to 4K.

While officially there is nothing regarding native 4K support for Series S, we know this is not possible since the game developers simply do not have the 4K mode enabled for any of their games on Series S.

Is Series S Holding The New Generation Back?

Now the discussion regarding Teraflops above was to give you an insight into WHY Xbox Series S cannot support 4K resolution. Its close cousin, the Xbox Series X, can support 4K resolution and sometimes even at 120FPS.

The disparity in performance between Series S and Series X is as much as threefold. Hence, you can’t even place both of them in the same bucket.

Series S closely resembles the performance of the previous gen consoles as supposed to the newer gen consoles.

There was a popular incident when Gotham Knights developer took to Twitter and held Xbox Series S GPU holding the next-gen back.

And this is an opinion that many hold.

Since the games have to be made for the lowest denominator and since Microsoft WILL not allow a game to be released if it is not made for BOTH series S and X, I am personally of the opinion that Series S is an obstruction for console evolution.

While, yes, Series S does have better RAM, SSDs and other quality-of-life improvement features as compared to Xbox One X, its significantly lower graphics performance overshadows all of its pros.

FAQ

Does Xbox Series S Support 4K 60FPS?

No, the discussion above should highlight that Xbox Series S does NOT support 4K resolution AT ALL.

I am talking about NATIVE 4K support here. Upscale support i.e. 1440P 60FPS upscaled to 4K 60FPS will work.

Does Xbox Series S Support 4K 120FPS?

Again, not possible. Even Xbox Series X has a hard time hitting 4K @ 120FPS for many games let alone Series S.