Series S at £429.99

Is the Xbox Series S worth it in 2026? Only for a narrow group of buyers. The Xbox Series Scosts £429.99 at Microsoft's UK RRP after the 1 August 2026 price rise, and £429.00 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (September 2026). That leaves it just £90 below the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, which has 2.5 times the GPU power, 6 GB more memory and 303 GB more usable storage.

The Xbox Series S remains the cheapest way into Xbox Game Pass and the cheapest console that runs GTA 6 on 19 November 2026. It suits Game Pass players on a 1080p TV, second-room setups and families on the tightest budget. For almost everyone else, the extra £90 for a PS5 Digital Edition or the jump to an Xbox Series X buys a console that will age better.

How much does the Xbox Series S cost now?

The Xbox Series S 512 GB costs £429.99 at Microsoft's UK RRP from 1 August 2026, and £429.00 on Amazon UK at the time of writing. The Xbox Series S launched in the UK at £249.99 in November 2020, so the same console now costs £180 more, a 72% rise. The Xbox Series X Disc rose to £669.99 on the same date.

The price rises changed the Series S's position. In 2020 the Series S undercut the PS5 Digital Edition (£359.99 at launch) by £110. In September 2026 the gap is £90 at RRP, while the performance gap has not moved.

What can't the Xbox Series S do?

The Xbox Series S cannot play discs, does not target 4K and has roughly a third of the Xbox Series X's GPU power. Microsoft rates the Xbox Series S GPU at 4 teraflops against 12.15 on the Xbox Series X, with 10 GB of memory against 16 GB, and a 1440p target resolution. The practical limits:

• Resolution: most demanding games run below 1440p on Series S, and often near 1080p. On a 4K TV the image is upscaled and visibly softer than on Series X.
• Features: some games drop ray tracing or higher-frame-rate modes on Series S that the Series X version keeps.
• Storage: 364 GB of the 512 GB SSD is usable. A handful of large games fills it, and Microsoft-certified expansion cards cost extra.
• Discs: no drive, so no second-hand games, no trade-ins and no 4K Blu-ray films.

What the Xbox Series S can do is play every Xbox Series X|S game, including Grand Theft Auto VI on 19 November 2026. Rockstar has not published Series S performance targets, but the console is a listed launch platform.

Is a PS5 Digital a better buy than an Xbox Series S?

The PS5 Digital Edition is the better buy for most players, because £90 more at RRP buys 2.5 times the GPU power. Sony rates the PS5 Digital Edition at 10.28 teraflops, with 16 GB of GDDR6 and an 825 GB SSD of which 667 GB is usable. Neither console has a disc drive out of the box, though Sony sells a PS5 Disc Drive that clips on later.

Per pound, the difference is stark. The Xbox Series S costs £107.50 per teraflop at RRP; the PS5 Digital Edition costs £50.58. The Xbox Series S keeps two advantages: a lower entry price, and Game Pass, which Sony has no direct equivalent to for day-one first-party releases. Amazon UK listed the PS5 Digital Edition without a live price at the time of writing, so check the listing before buying.

Is Game Pass still worth it on Series S?

Game Pass is still the best reason to buy an Xbox Series S, and it got cheaper in 2026. Microsoft cut Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in the UK from £22.99 to £16.99 a month in April 2026. Game Pass Premium costs £10.99 a month and Game Pass Essential £6.99 a month; Essential covers online multiplayer, which most online games need.

The trade-off: from April 2026, new Call of Duty games no longer join Game Pass on day one. Players who bought into Game Pass for Call of Duty now pay for it separately. Game Pass Ultimate still suits players who try many new games a year; players who stick to two or three games a year usually spend less buying them outright.

What does an Xbox Series S cost over 3 years?

An Xbox Series S with Game Pass Ultimate costs £1,041.63 over three years, £221.67 more than a PS5 Digital Edition with PS Plus Extra. Compare Electronic's 3-year cost table adds 36 months of subscription to each console's UK RRP. Tier prices used: Game Pass Essential £6.99, Premium £10.99 and Ultimate £16.99 a month (Game Pass is sold monthly); PS Plus Essential £59.99, Extra £99.99 and Premium £119.99 a year on 12-month plans.

At the cheapest online tiers, the Xbox Series S is £18.33 cheaper over three years than a PS5 Digital Edition. At the middle tiers the two are within £6 of each other, and at the top tier the Series S costs more. The Series S saving at the till disappears once a subscription runs for a year or two. Totals exclude games, and do not include Game Pass discounts or PS Plus sale prices, which can lower both columns.

Who should still buy a Series S?

The Xbox Series S suits three kinds of buyer in 2026:

• Game Pass players on a 1080p TV, where the resolution gap to the Xbox Series X matters least.
• Second-room and family setups, where the 1.93 kg console and its small footprint fit under a bedroom TV.
• Buyers with a hard £450 ceiling who want to play GTA 6 on launch day. The Series S plus the £69.99 Standard Edition costs £498.99 at Amazon UK prices.

Who should skip the Xbox Series S: anyone with a 4K TV, anyone who buys boxed games, and anyone planning to keep one console for five years. Those buyers are better served by the PS5 Digital Edition, the Xbox Series X, or a PS5 from PS5 Slim vs PS5 Pro. All five current consoles are ranked for Rockstar's release in best console for GTA 6, and PlayStation buyers should check PS5 Black Friday deals and the best PS5 accessories before buying. Players tempted by a PC-style box can compare the Steam Machine vs PS5 Pro.

Verdict: is the Xbox Series S worth it?

The Xbox Series S is worth it in 2026 only as a Game Pass machine for a 1080p TV or a second room. At £429.99 RRP it is £90 short of a PS5 Digital Edition with 2.5 times the GPU power, and over three years the subscription tier matters more than the console price. Buyers with a 4K TV should spend the extra.