14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft might be unwilling to make an official announcement about the hardware change that could be coming to the Xbox One in the coming months, but new filings with the Federal Communications Commission seem to point to the development and delivery of a new Slim version of the home console that will offer an improved user experience.
Users on NeoGAF have found documents that seem to show that the same manual as the currently available one will be used for the device, but its actual specifications are not shown to the public until June 25, when the company is presumably aiming to make the official announcement.
The FCC needs to approve a new model of the Xbox One before it is officially launched and sold to consumer, and documents have often revealed new hardware before it was officially revealed.
In addition to a Slim version of the already available platform, Microsoft might also be working on yet another gaming device, which is referred to as model 1682, but no details about either of them are currently available.
E3 2016 is scheduled to take place in the middle of June and would be a great moment for new platforms to be unveiled, especially if an official launch is set for some point during the fall.
Xbox One Slim might have to compete with the PlayStation 4K
Phil Spencer, the leader of the gaming division, has already said that his team is considering the delivery of an upgradable Xbox One that could improve the experiences it delivers to gamers as technology evolves.
He has then also said that the company is interested in big improvements and will not offer new hardware just to convince more potential users to pick up a home console and improve the sales of its product, which are currently somewhere around the 20 million devices mark.
Rumors are also saying that Sony is working on a new PlayStation 4K, which will be able to deliver 4K resolutions for some types of content and will feature a new AMD graphics processing unit that will double the computing power available for developers.
It will apparently be priced at 499 dollars or Euro and might also introduce improved performance in order to support the launch of the PlayStation VR virtual reality headset.
Both Sony and Microsoft introduced their devices in 2014 and might be able to reach a higher number of gamers if they manage to significantly improve their performance this year.