There has been a ton of speculation about what the back of the Xbox Series X will look like. During CES, AMD released a presentation with a faked mock-up and later leaks once again showcased what the back of the machine might look like. Now we have new photos that have surfaced online thanks to NeoGAF user Curry Panda. The photos show off both the front and back of the upcoming Series X device and give us a clear shot of what owners can expect to find on release day. The front of the device we already knew had a disk drive and USB port. We can also clearly see the disk eject button and a controller sync button. Overall it looks very much like a current Xbox One S well, aside from the added height while laying vertical of course.
The back is where things get interesting. We can clearly see 2 USB ports, Ethernet, power, HDMI, and an optical out port. There are 2 additional mystery holes in the prototype housing, one along the left side of the image and one directly under the Ethernet port. According to Brad Sams of Thurrott, the images are indeed real and the port in the middle is likely for diagnostic tools. Speculation is circulating that the top hole is to allow the back of the prototype to be opened. Neither of these ports is likely to exist in the final hardware. What would be cool is if one of these ports did remain as a way to add an additional SSD to the box! Anyway, it is cool to see some legit photos of the device and see some of the things we will get when the Series X launches.
Fans of the HDMI In port on current Xbox hardware are likely to be sad that it is missing on the Series X. I know I used that port extensively to fix some hardware compatibility in my streaming setup in the past. What bums me out though is the lack of USB ports. 3 ports were not enough on the current-gen hardware when adding hard drives and needing to charge controllers or using wired alternatives. Come on Microsoft bring back the 5 ports of the Xbox 360 S! I can’t wait to see more over the coming months including some shots of the sides so we can get a clearer look at that base the Series X is employing. I am also highly curious as to the system software. We are likely to get more teases in the coming months.
What do you think of the Series X so far from these new images?
