During their keynote presentation, hardware manufacturer AMD seemed to reveal the ports and the back panel of the upcoming next-generation Xbox from Microsoft, the Series X, with a look that seemed reasonably similar to that of the current Xbox One.
However, Microsoft has confirmed that the images used in the presentation were not provided or verified by Microsoft and are not genuine.
The new system, which has a case that is more reminiscent of a tower used for PCs, was purported to comprise of two HDMI ports (HDMI 2.1 to support 8K), two USB-C ports, an Ethernet socket and an S/PDIF port, more commonly referred to as an optical or digital audio port.
AMD’s keynote presentation also revealed several new products that they have been working on, including a new series of mobile processors with the Ryzen 4000 series, and the RX 5000 series Radeon graphics cards.
They also included some promotional information on the new consoles as the manufacturer of the hardware. While no new hard data about the power behind the console was shown, it did reveal what seemed to be the back of the system, which several eagle-eyed viewers discovered.
Rear shot of Xbox Series X shown during AMD CES presentation. Includes 2 HDMI ports, 2 USB-C ports, S/PDIF pic.twitter.com/8ZFb1xJjgi
— Wario64 (@Wario64) January 6, 2020
However, it transpired several hours after the reveal that the images that were used in AMD’s keynote were taken from the account of a user on TurboSquid, a website used by 3D modelers to display their designs, as mentioned by Tech Journalist Brad Sams in the below Twitter thread.
so this is a royal f up by AMD…someone took an image from a 3d rendering site, slapped it in their promo video and thought nothing of it…
— Brad Sams (@bdsams) January 7, 2020
here’s the render AMD used…deleted the other tweet and thankfully, this one is only $10, not $24. https://t.co/oHEUQInBNr pic.twitter.com/TXFm6exMSf
The reveal had posed questions as to what the purpose of the second HDMI port is used on the system. The Xbox One also used two HDMI ports, with one port used as an HDMI IN that allows users who have cable boxes to play the content through their Xbox, allowing some enhanced features.
It’s also unclear if the new console will support the same technology or if it will support two HDMI OUT ports for streaming, recording, or even playing on two TV or monitors. It’s also unknown if Microsoft will begin support for HDMI-CEC (used for sending TV signals through the Xbox) or HDMI-ARC (for high-quality audio transfer) given the difficulty with the technology to implement.
However, the confirmation that the images were not genuine means that this information is still up in the air.
