There a numerous causes that have led into the ongoing computer component shortage, one of which is the lack of availability of materials called ABF substrates. The Good news is that companies like AMD and Intel are taking the problem seriously and are investing in packaging facilities and production of substrates.
A wide variety of chips from inexpensive entry-level processors for client PCs to complex high-end CPUs for servers use laminated packaging. Usually, chips that use laminated packaging also use IC substrates featuring insulating Ajinomoto build-up films (ABF), which are made by just one company, Ajinomoto Fine-Techno Co.
While there are dozens of companies that package chips and use ABF substrates, there is only one ABF supplier that has to serve them all. But as it transpired this year, the Japanese company is not the bottleneck here, but OSAT (outsourced assembly and test) houses like ASE Technology are.
Earlier this year, numerous top packaging houses vowed to increase their production capacities. But for large companies, a tangible capacity increase is complicated, as equipment vendors can’t simply increase their output overnight. But now even second-tier OSAT players have announced plans to expand their capacity already. For example, Kinsus plans to raise its ABF substate capacity by 30% this year, DigiTimes reports. But chip packaging houses are not the only companies that can address issues with chip packaging.
“I would say overall, the demand if we look at coming into this year, the demand has been sort of higher than our expectations,” said Lisa Su, chief executive of AMD, at this week’s conference call, reports SeekingAlpha. “There are sort of industry-wide types of things that are going on. We work very closely with our supply chain partners. So, whether it’s wafers or back-end assembly test, capacity or substrate capacity, we work it on a product line by product line level.”
AMD used to own assembly, test, mark and pack facilities, but sold them in 2016 when it was in dire need of money. Apparently, AMD wants to address its chip shortages by investing in OSAT and substrate partners to gain capacity that is dedicated to AMD.
“We continue — on the substrate side in particular, I think, there has been underinvestment in the industry,” said Su. “So, we have taken the opportunity to invest in some substrate capacity dedicated to AMD, and that’ll be something that we continue to do going forward.”
Intel has its own chip production as well as test and assembly facilities in multiple countries. But apparently the in-house packaging capacities are not enough for Intel, which significantly increased its chip output capacities in the recent year following shortages it faced in 2018 – 2019. In a bid to meet demand for its products, Intel is working with its third-party substrate partners.
“By partnering closely with our suppliers, we are creatively utilizing our internal assembly factory network to remove a major constraint in our substrate supply,” said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, during a recent call. “Coming online in Q2, this capability will increase the availability of millions of units in 2021. It is a great example where the IDM model gives us flexibility to address the dynamic market.”
AMD is perhaps among the companies that suffered the most from chip production crisis. In the second half of 2020 the company had to supply its partners from Microsoft and Sony over 10 million of SoCs for the the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 that were launched last November. Around the same time AMD introduced its Ryzen 5000-series CPUs based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture as well as the Radeon RX 6000-series GPUs running the RDNA2 architecture.
Eventually AMD admitted that it could not meet demand for its products because it could not procure enough chips from its manufacturing partners and because its OSAT partners did not have enough capacity to test and pack its chips too.
Microsoft posted the third quarter of its 2021 financial results today, reporting revenue of $41.7 billion and a net income of $15.5 billion. Revenue is up 19 percent, and net income has increased by 44 percent. Once again, Microsoft has seen strong growth for Surface, Xbox, and cloud-related services.
The PC market isn’t slowing down, despite a global chip shortage, and Microsoft is benefiting from this once again. Windows OEM revenue has grown by 10 percent, reflecting the strong consumer PC demand. Windows non-pro OEM revenue also grew 44 percent, and only Windows OEM Pro revenue declined by 2 percent.
Surface Laptop 4.Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge
Surface hit a $2 billion business milestone in the previous quarter, and Microsoft has recorded $1.5 billion of revenue in Q3. That may look like a dip, but it’s actually up 12 percent year over year during what’s usually a more quiet quarter for Surface sales.
While Microsoft just unveiled its new Surface Laptop 4 and accessories earlier this month, the Surface Pro 7 Plus also debuted for businesses and schools during this recent quarter. The Surface Pro is Microsoft’s most popular Surface device, and this latest model includes a bigger battery, Intel’s 11th Gen processors, a removable SSD, and LTE.
Xbox Series X.
Microsoft is also home to Xbox hardware and games, and once again revenue has grown across gaming. This is the second quarter of sales of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, and hardware revenue has grown by a massive 232 percent thanks to these next-gen consoles.
Xbox content and services revenue has also increased by 34 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Gaming became a key hobby for many during 2020, and that trend has remained throughout 2021. Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue is up 50 percent, after reaching $5 billion for the first quarter ever last quarter.
Apple is now rolling out iOS 14.5 to the iPhone alongside iPadOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4. This is a pretty sizable update that brings a lot of new features but here’s a quick rundown of some of them.
The main new feature is that you can now unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch if you are wearing a mask. A new ‘Unlock with Apple Watch’ option has been added in phone’s settings, which should cause your iPhone to unlock automatically if you are wearing a mask and also your Apple Watch. This feature requires you to have also updated to watchOS 7.4.
Another major new feature is App Tracking Transparency, which lets you control which apps are allowed to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites for ads or sharing with data brokers. Once this update is installed, apps that have to track you now need to ask for your explicit permission before they can do so and with one click you can allow or deny them.
iOS 14.5 also adds support for AirTag. This includes activating the hardware features that let you track your AirTag device and also an updated Find My app that will help you locate it.
Siri has also received an update with more voice option. There are now 14 different voices from different regions and genders. Siri can now also announce incoming calls and caller name and if you’re wearing AirPods or compatible Beats headphones you can also answer hands-free. You can now also call your emergency contact using Siri.
iOS 14.5 will also perform a recalibration of your phone’s battery. This will show the battery’s health more accurately and can take a few weeks to complete. This feature is only available on the 11-series iPhones.
iOS 14.5 features
Other improvements in this update include new emoji, sharing lyrics through Apple Music, new Podcasts app, redesigned News app, improvements to 5G connectivity, support for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 controllers, and more.
Home/Component/APU/AMD 4700S appears to be the Xbox Series X|S CPU but for PC
João Silva 2 hours ago APU, Featured Tech News
An unknown AMD processor has appeared online, known as the ‘4700S’. The specifications of this processor don’t line up with any of AMD’s announced CPUs or APUs, but based on some of the details, this could be a reused Xbox Series X|S APU with the graphics cores disabled.
As per the retailer (via @9550pro), the AMD 4700S APU is being sold inside a mini-ITX system. Like the Xbox Series X|S APU, this one is based on the 7nm process node and features 8x Zen 2 cores and 16x threads. The naming lacks the “Ryzen” of other AMD APUs and is apparently based on the ‘Cardinal’ platform.
The boost clock is set at 4.0GHz, which is slightly above the Xbox Series X|S consoles. This might be due to the iGPU being disabled, allowing for more power to be delivered to the CPU, therefore allowing higher clock speeds.
Another similarity with the Xbox Series consoles is the 16GB of GDDR6 memory and the lack of DIMM slots. The reseller even added marketing material featuring the Xbox Series X|S APU, implying that this APU is also used on the consoles. Although we can’t confirm it, it’s possible that these APUs have not passed the tests to be equipped on Xbox Series consoles, so AMD resells them with the iGPU disabled.
The reseller also included some benchmark results, showing the AMD 4700S APU is slower than both the Core i7-9700 processor and the Ryzen 7 4750G Pro, but faster than the Core i7-9750H laptop processor.
KitGuru says: If AMD were to sell the Xbox Series console processor as its own product for the DIY PC market, would you buy one?
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The Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles have been out for quite some time now, each with a new controller. Back in November, Apple confirmed it would be bringing support for these new gamepads to iOS, now six months later, that support has finally arrived.
As part of the iOS 14.5 update, Apple has also introduced support for additional game controllers on iOS, including the Xbox Series X/S controller and the PS5’s DualSense.
Apple began expanding gamepad support on iOS in recent years in preparation for its own gaming service – Apple Arcade. These controllers can also be used for cloud gaming services, which are finally starting to open up to iOS.
Currently, Microsoft is testing Xbox Cloud Gaming on iOS via browsers on the iPhone and iPad. GeForce Now is available on iOS with a similar web-based solution and soon, Amazon Luna and Google Stadia will be joining the ranks.
KitGuru Says: Do any of you use a controller with your phone for gaming, whether it be mobile games or console/PC titles streamed via the cloud?
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When Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War launched late last year, it offered a native next-gen version, which took advantage of many of the new consoles’ enhancements including 120fps support, FOV sliders and much more. Activision’s arguably more popular Call of Duty game, Warzone, did not receive such treatment. That being said, the team have now confirmed that PS5 and Series X|S versions of Call of Duty Warzone are on their way.
As reported by Charlie Intel, Raven Software, one of Call of Duty’s development studios, has confirmed that they are working on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of Call of Duty Warzone. This update will bring with it many new enhancements, including 120Hz support, much faster loading times due to proper utilisation of the consoles’ SSDs, as well as possible support for FOV sliders – something which the team is currently “investigating.”
Raven has reportedly set up a “dedicated technology team” to work on next-gen enhancements for Warzone, including updating the engine itself. No timeline was provided regarding when players can expect this native next-gen version, but hopefully it will come sooner rather than later.
Call of Duty Warzone has been highly successful for the franchise, reaching over 100 million players in a year, and putting Call of Duty back into the limelight. With Warzone not going away any time soon, it is good to see that the team is working hard to make sure that the game itself progresses technologically with the newer consoles.
KitGuru says: Do you play Warzone? Are you excited for the next-gen update? What is your favourite next-gen feature? Let us know down below.
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In late 2020, Square Enix finally brought Dragon Quest XI over to the Xbox platform and better yet, the game was also available on Game Pass. Now, it looks like Xbox will be getting more Dragon Quest games, including the excellent spin-off Dragon Quest Builders 2.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 originally released in mid 2019 for the Nintendo Switch and PS4. Later that same year, the game was also made available on Steam.
Now, Microsoft has announced that Dragon Quest Builders 2 will finally be coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles. Additionally, the game will launch on Game Pass for Console, PC and Cloud, marking the latest step in a long running Game Pass partnership with Square Enix.
The game officially arrives on the 4th of May, on that date, Game Pass subscribers will be able to install the game and start playing. Those who don’t have Game Pass will have to fork out £44.99.
KitGuru Says: I played quite a bit of this at release on Nintendo Switch. It’s a fun game and certainly worth an install if you have Game Pass. Will any of you be grabbing this one next month when it comes to Game Pass on PC and console?
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Resident Evil Village is nearly here, and Capcom is giving you more time to play a piece of it ahead of launch. The studio originally announced that players on Xbox, Playstation, and PC would have access to a 60-minute demo this weekend for just 24 hours, but after fan criticism, Capcom has extended the demo’s availability to a full week.
Village’s final demo will still unlock on May 1st at 8PM ET in North America, but availability will now end on May 9th at 8PM ET, a two-day overlap with the game’s full release on May 7th. Capcom announced the change along with extended time frames for both the United Kingdom and Europe on the game’s Twitter account. Playtime for the demo will still be limited to an hour, though.
We’ve heard your feedback and are extending the availability period for the final 60-minute multi-platform #REVillage demo.
The original 24-hour window starting 5PM PDT May 1 (1AM BST May 2) has been increased by a week, and now ends at the same times on May 9 PDT (May 10 BST). pic.twitter.com/8VKEU8bMnu
— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) April 26, 2021
The final demo will let you play two sections of the game: the eponymous village and Castle Dimitrescu, home of the tall vampire lady everyone knows and loves. PlayStation owners had just a few hours to check out the village and then the castle sections in 30-minute chunks over the past two weekends, but on May 1st, players on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Stadia will all have a week to play through both sections of the game, as long as they do so within 60 minutes.
This demo follows the first from January, titled “Maiden,” which featured an unnamed protagonist rather than Village’s main character, Ethan Winters.
Resident Evil Village launches on Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Stadia on May 7th.
If you haven’t gotten your hands on an Xbox Series X, you may be able to pick up one very soon, but without the RDNA 2 graphics, of course. The recently uncovered AMD 4700S Desktop Kit (via momomo_us) has found its way into a mini-ITX gaming PC at Tmall in China.
When the AMD 4700S emerged last week, the obscure processor raised a lot of questions. For one, the chip doesn’t carry the Ryzen branding, suggesting that it might be a custom processor that AMD developed for one of its clients. Stranger still, the processor is available for purchase as part of the AMD 4700S Desktop Kit.
Starting with what we know so far, the AMD 4700S is an octa-core Zen 2 processor with simultaneous multithreading (SMT). The Tmall merchant listed the AMD 4700S with 12MB of L3 cache, although we saw the chip with 8MB in a previous Geekbench 5 submission. The processor runs with a 3.6 GHz base clock and a 4 GHz boost clock. While we saw the AMD 4700S with 16GB of memory, we were uncertain of its nature. However, we suspected that the AMD 4700S is a variant of the processor that powers Microsoft’s latest Xbox Series X gaming console. The new mini-ITX listing appears to confirm our suspicions.
Apparently, the AMD 4700S is outfitted with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, which is the same amount of memory in the Xbox Series X. It appears that AMD is salvaging defective dies that don’t meet the requirements for the Xbox Series X and reselling them as the AMD 4700S.
Logically, AMD can’t just sell the same processor that it produces for Microsoft (for obvious reasons). Therefore, the AMD 4700S could be a result of a defective die with a faulty iGPU, similar to Intel’s graphics-less F-series chips. On the other hand, AMD could simply have disabled the iGPU inside the AMD 4700S, which is a shame given how generous GDDR6 memory is with bandwidth.
The only image of the mini-ITX system’s interior revealed a motherboard that looks like the same size as the Xbox Series X. There are no memory slots, and we can see some of the GDDR6 chips that surround the processor. Naturally, AMD reworked the motherboard for PC usage, as we can see by the addition of capacitors, passive heatsink, power connectors, and connectivity ports. Since the AMD 4700S lacks an iGPU, AMD added a PCIe 3.0 x16 expansion slot for a discrete graphics card.
AMD 4700S Benchmarks
Processor
Cinebench R20 Single-Core
Cinebench R20 Multi-Core
Cinebench R15 Single-Core
Cinebench R15 Multi-Core
Ryzen 7 4750G
411
4,785
199
2,085
AMD 4700S
486
3,965
160
1,612
Core i7-9700
508
3,643
200
1,469
Thanks to the listing, we can also get an idea of just how the processor inside the Xbox Series X performs compared to today’s desktop processors. However, it’s important to highlight that the AMD 4700S may not be the exact processor used in Microsoft’s latest console. The Series X uses a chip that runs at 3.8 GHz and 3.6 GHz when simultaneous multithreading is active. The AMD 4700S, on the other hand, clocks in a 3.6 GHz with a 4 GHz boost clock. On paper, the AMD 4700S should have faster compute cores since it doesn’t have an iGPU that eats into its power budget, so the heightened clock speeds make sense.
In general, the AMD 4700S lags behind the Ryzen 7 4750G (Renoir) and Core i7-9700 (Coffee Lake) in single-core workloads. The AMD 4700S did outperform the Core i7-9700 in multi-core workloads. However, it still placed behind the Ryzen 7 4750G.
It’s remains to be seen whether AMD is selling the AMD 4700S to retail customers or just OEMs. Thus far, we’ve seen the AMD 4700S Desktop Kit retailing for €263.71 (~$317.38) in at Tulostintavaratalo, a retailer in Finland. The Chinese mini-ITX gaming system is listed for 4,599 yuan or $709.12, but the price factors in the Radeon RX 550, 5TB SSD, CPU cooler, power supply and case.
Apple has just released macOS 11.3, alongside iOS 14.5. It’s probably worth updating your Mac to it as soon as you can — not only because it comes with some new features, including improvements for running iPhone and iPad apps on M1 Macs and updates to Apple Music and Podcasts, but it also fixes a major security flaw.
The update reportedly patches a vulnerability that allowed malware to bypass many of macOS’s built-in protections, like File Quarantine and GateKeeper’s opening dialog box. While Apple’s built-in anti-malware system could still block malicious programs if Apple were aware of them, enterprise software company Jamf did find evidence that the security flaw was being exploited by attackers.
Apple also details a slew of other security fixes that are included with the latest update on its security update page. Catalina and Mojave have received security patches as well, for those who haven’t yet updated to Big Sur.
Aside from security updates, one of the biggest new improvements in 11.3 (at least for owners of M1 Macs) is the ability to resize iPhone and iPad app windows. Apple’s also added keyboard, mouse, and trackpad support for games that are compatible with controllers.
The infinity symbol in the queue controls the Autoplay feature.
Apple has also added autoplay to the Music app — a feature which is either great or annoying depending on your mood. After you reach the end of a song or playlist, Apple Music will continue playing music that it thinks is similar (thankfully, it can be turned off if you’re just looking to listen to one specific song). The News and Podcasts apps also have redesigned pages to make them easier to use (with the former getting a reworked search feature — something that’s exciting to me, and possibly no one else).
The update also adds many of the features that are in iOS 14.5: the ability to track AirTags using the Find My app, new emoji and Siri voices, and support for the Xbox Series X / S and PlayStation 5 DualSense controllers. You can visit Apple’s site to see the entire list of updates and features.
Apple has begun rolling out iOS and iPadOS 14.5. The latest software update includes the new App Tracking Transparency feature, which lets users decide whether to allow apps to track their activity “across other companies’ apps and websites” for advertising purposes. A pop-up will now appear whenever apps are designed to share your activity in this way. Facebook has heavily criticized Apple over App Tracking Transparency, claiming that it presents “a false tradeoff between personalized ads and privacy.” The new option could have a detrimental impact on Facebook’s ad business.
Perhaps more important to day-to-day iPhone usage, iOS 14.5 also includes a very helpful and timely new trick: if you own an Apple Watch, you can set your iPhone to automatically unlock without requiring a Face ID match or passcode as long as Apple’s smartwatch is on your wrist. This is designed to make getting into your phone that much quicker while we’re all still wearing face masks so frequently throughout the day. Installing watchOS 7.4 is necessary for this feature to work; that update is also available as of today.
iOS and iPadOS 14.5 include a ton of new emoji with a focus on inclusivity. The update adds the ability to watch Apple Fitness Plus workouts on a TV with AirPlay 2. Apple’s Podcasts app is getting a new design and optional subscriptions. The latest video game controllers for the PS5 and Xbox Series X / S are now supported on the iPhone and iPad as of this update. And all iPhone 12 models will allow for 5G connectivity in dual-SIM mode in more countries. Starting with the 14.5 update, Apple will no longer default to a female-sounding voice for its Siri assistant. Instead, you’ll be prompted to choose your preferred voice during device setup. Apple has a post up with all of the miscellaneous improvements and additions.
iOS and iPadOS 14.5 is rolling out to iPhone and iPad users now; you can check the “software update” section in settings to begin the update process right away.
This week, Apple launched a new Apple TV 4K streamer complete with a shiny new Siri remote control. But there’s a kicker – the new Siri remote won’t work with motion-controlled video games, DigitalTrends reports.
That’s because it lacks a gyroscope and accelerometer, meaning no Wii-style motion gaming. According to MacRumors, if you try to play a motion-controlled game with the new remote you’ll see the following error message:
“To play this game on your Apple TV, you need to connect the Apple TV Remote (1st generation) or a compatible PlayStation, Xbox or MFi controller.”
Why the change? Apple Arcade is trying to position itself as a more serious gaming platform, with fewer motion-controlled titles, which are seen as frivolous by more hardcore gamers. It stopped insisting that games on the platform support the original Siri controller’s motion controls back in 2016, and in 2019 started supporting controllers from “proper” consoles such as the Xbox One and PS4. It will soon support PS5 and Xbox Series X/S controllers, too.
The new Apple TV supports high frame rate HDR with Dolby Vision at 60fps, and is powered by the A12 Bionic chip, which debuted in 2018’s iPhone XS. It also has a unique approach to setting the colour balance: it uses your iPhone’s sensors to optimise the video output for your particular TV. The light sensor in the iPhone compares the colour balance to “industry-standard specifications used by cinematographers worldwide”. The Apple TV 4K then automatically tweaks its picture output to allegedly deliver more accurate colours and better contrast based on the measurements it takes from your TV.
We can’t wait to try it for ourselves.
MORE:
Apple’s new TV calibration feature is coming to older Apple TV models
Apple launches new Apple iPad Pro with Liquid Retina XDR screen and M1 chip
(Pocket-lint) – MotoGP sits at the very apex of the motorbike-racing formulae, yet its officially licensed games have somehow never quite crossed over to a mainstream audience. The cognoscenti are aware, however, that developer Milestone – which has been crafting MotoGP games since 2007 – really knows its stuff.
For a number of reasons – not least the fact that making a motorsport game in the middle of a pandemic, when visiting circuits to scan them is somewhere between tricky and impossible, is a logistical nightmare – MotoGP 21 doesn’t offer much by way of surprises.
It’s the first MotoGP game to include the long-lap penalty, its management element has been expanded somewhat, and its tyre-wear model has been tweaked to offer even more realism. So is the 2021 edition worth the ride?
Preaching to the converted
But that there’s no major new feature isn’t vastly problematic, since Milestone’s MotoGP games have been consistently solid for a number of years, and MotoGP 21 continues that trend.
As we’ve come to expect from officially licensed motorsport games, it’s big, comprehensive and technically accomplished, and provides a meaty facsimile of the whole real-life MotoGP circus, encompassing the lower formulae, Moto2 and Moto3, and letting you indulge your team-management fantasies to an extent, as well as to showcase your bike-riding skills.
One reason why MotoGP games haven’t been huge hits among a mainstream gaming audience in the past instantly becomes obvious when you fire MotoGP 21 up: its target audience is clearly hardcore MotoGP fans and the sort of bike enthusiasts who might participate in track days.
It does have a tutorial, you can turn on driver aids, and there’s a rewind button for erasing painful wipeouts. But that tutorial is distinctly cursory when it comes to explaining the fundamentals of bike-riding, and much more detailed regarding esoterica like bike-setup.
Koch Media
MotoGP 21, then, preaches mainly to the converted, and those who are new to bike-racing games are likely to find it a tad intimidating, although it is easy enough to set things up so as to ease yourself in gently.
Carving out a career
In Career mode, once you have virtually created yourself as a MotoGP racer, you can choose whether to start in Moto3, Moto2 or the full-blown MotoGP. From then on, there’s a familiar calendar-based structure, so you can opt to participate in as many or as few testing and practice sessions and so on as you want.
Koch Media
If team management is your thing, you can start your own junior team after a season, and you can mess around with chasing the most lucrative contracts and swapping to the best teams.
But if you find all those aspects peripheral and just want to dive into the racing, MotoGP 21 delivers brilliantly. You can leave the Career mode to launch quick races in all the formulae, but if you don’t know the circuits, you’ll struggle in the races. So, it makes sense to participate in the Career mode’s free practice sessions in order to learn the circuits, before qualifying and the actual races.
If your bike-racing skills aren’t quite at a ninja level, it also makes sense to start off in Moto3: its less powerful bikes are much more forgiving and, in particular, easier to stop going into the corners – those used to four-wheel racing games will have to adopt an unfamiliar slow-in, fast-out style, and learn how to blend the throttle. Being the last of the late-brakers is a recipe for disaster.
Koch Media
MotoGP 21’s bike-feel is exemplary – the full-blown MotoGP beasts are a real handful, but once you develop confidence in the front-end of your bike, you can really flow round the circuits. Tyre wear is also very noticeable – as it is in the real-world MotoGP – and you must setup your bike carefully for the races, playing off tyre longevity against top-end power. You don’t necessarily have to fiddle around with bike settings yourself: you can tell your virtual engineers what you want, and they will make changes accordingly.
Best PS5 games 2021: Amazing PlayStation 5 titles to pick up
By Max Freeman-Mills
·
Online play
Online, MotoGP 21 feels impressively solid in technical terms, although it can be difficult to tell pre-release, when servers are sparsely populated. But the online side of the game definitely isn’t for the faint-hearted: it tries to match riders with similar skill levels, but you’re still likely to be pitting yourself against gamers with expensive rigs rather than just a console and a gamepad. Inevitably, brutal racing results. Offline, you can crank up the AI to reflect that, but its default level is fairly forgiving: your rivals will be quick, but at least they won’t take you out with abandon.
Koch Media
Visually, MotoGP 21 is very good, but not exactly jaw-dropping. We played it on the Xbox Series X, and it didn’t feel like a game which was designed for the latest generation of consoles, then crunched down for the previous generation – understandably, given that new-gen consoles are still in short supply. Ironically, MotoGP 21 is at its visual best when you crash, and it switches perspective to a harrowingly realistic crash-cam.
Verdict
For hardcore, committed MotoGP fans, MotoGP 21 is absolutely spot-on: it doesn’t offer any major surprises or innovations, but it does let gamers fulfil their bike-racing fantasies in the most realistic manner imaginable. It’s technically solid, nice and flexible, and decent-looking.
Our main caveat would be that those who haven’t played a MotoGP game before might find it intimidatingly hard at first, although if you start off in Moto3 before working your way up the formulae, you should find that it constitutes a decent gateway towards becoming a seasoned virtual bike-racer.
Overall, though, MotoGP 21’s quality is on a par with the prestige of its official licence, which is pretty much all you could ask for.
The Xbox Series S isn’t perfect and won’t be for everyone, but it delivers a near next-gen gaming experience for a reasonable price
For
Attractively priced
Solid AV and gaming performance
Responsive controls
Against
Over-complicated AV set-up
Doesn’t support native 4K gaming
Small hard drive
The Xbox Series S is a tough console to nail down. It’s next-gen, but with one rather large drawback; it isn’t a 4K games console, which will undoubtedly rule out some potential buyers from the off.
But it is about more than just resolution. The Xbox Series S brings features and performance benefits to a price point we’ve never seen a high-tech console hit at launch before. And, after resolution, the price of the Series S is arguably the big talking point.
Price
The Xbox Series S is a remarkably cheap console, costing just £250 ($300, AU$500) – no wonder there was a collective gasp from members of the media when pricing was finally revealed. This compares to £450 ($500, AU$749) for the Xbox Series X.
Using Xbox All Access, where you can pay for the console in instalments, you can get a new Series S on a 12-month contract for £21 ($25, AU$33) per month, compared with £29 ($34, AU$46) per month for the Series X.
Its main rival, the PS5 Digital Edition, comes in at £359 ($399, AU$599). It is also missing a disc drive, but the difference is that it gets all the same 4K gaming performance and specs of the standard PS5 console, whereas the Series S has various performance downgrades on the Series X.
Build
(Image credit: Future)
It’s not just the price tag of the Xbox Series S that catches your attention. Open up the box and you’ll be taken aback by the size of the console. It’s tiny compared with its big brother, the Xbox Series X, but also the PS5 and PS5 Digital Editions too.
Positioned horizontally, the Series S measures 28cm wide and 15cm deep. This is in stark contrast to Sony’s disc-less rival, the PS5 Digital Edition, which is 39cm wide and 26cm deep. This makes the Series S ultra-portable, and you’ll be more than happy to sling it into a rucksack and take it to a friend’s house. The ‘S’ and its relatively small frame will also take up less space on your AV rack.
Xbox Series S tech specs
(Image credit: Future)
Resolution 1440p at 60Hz, 120Hz
Storage 512GB
Outputs HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, USB (Type-A) x3
The chassis is essentially an off-white plastic. It doesn’t feel particularly expensive, but that’s hardly a surprise, given the bulk of Xbox’s budget has been spent on what’s inside.
Compared with the striking PS5, the Xbox Series S looks anything but flamboyant. Its only distinctive feature is a circular black grill for the fan, which makes it look more like a wireless speaker than a cutting-edge games console.
In terms of connections, the Xbox Series S doesn’t throw up any real surprises. On the front, there’s a USB (Type-A) socket, a 3.5mm headphone jack and the power button. On the rear, there are power, ethernet, HDMI and a pair of USB (Type-A) inputs.
The only socket we haven’t really encountered before is a slot for expanding the amount of storage on the Xbox Series S. And, depending on the number of enhanced games you intend to buy, there’s a chance you might have to use it sooner than expected.
In fact, storage is one of the biggest drawbacks for the Xbox Series S. On the box, it says it has 512GB of storage, but when you boot up the console and go into the system’s menu, that figure is nowhere to be seen. Before installing a single game, we are down to 364GB. Download a few enhanced games at 60GB+ and you’ll soon be reaching for an expansion card.
Be warned – the official Seagate Storage Expansion Card costs a whopping £220 ($220, AU$359). The good news is that if you already own an external hard drive with backwards compatible games on it for an Xbox One S, you should be able to plug it into the Xbox Series S and use it straight away.
Home screen
(Image credit: Future)
Power up the console and you’re greeted with the traditional Xbox GUI. On the one hand, it’s nice and familiar but we can’t help but think it’s a missed opportunity. Couldn’t Xbox have created a more exciting and inviting interface to wow its customers and usher in its next-gen consoles?
The tile system is still in play and so is the horizontal navigation. You can reach all the relevant areas, such as games and system settings, with minimal button presses. It’s quick to respond to your commands too. This could be down to a combination of more powerful CPU processing, the super-fast solid-state hard drive and even the new low-latency controller.
What’s even more noticeable is the speed at which games load. Compared with the previous generation of Xbox consoles, the Series S is much quicker. Not only does it get you through loading screens with a greater sense of urgency, with Quick Resume, you can now pick up games from where you left off in a matter of seconds. Xbox claims you can have three or four games on the go at any one time.
Controller
(Image credit: Future)
Like the X, the new Xbox Series S gets a new control pad. It’s supposed to be slightly smaller, although the difference is hard to spot. Irrespective of whether it’s shrunk, the controller still feels good in hand. The bumpers are more rounded, while the triggers have been given more sculpted grips and a new texture that also spreads to the rear of the controller.
Your hands and fingertips get better purchase when pressing down hard, and it feels like the texture pattern from the back of an Xbox Elite Wireless Controller (Series 2) has been placed onto the Xbox Series S controller. Which is no bad thing.
The controller also features what Xbox calls Dynamic Latency Input (DLI), which immediately synchronises each controller input with what you see on screen. Of course, your TV’s own lag is also part of the equation here, but at least the console is doing its bit to reduce lag. It feels as though the console is quick to respond to commands, whether navigating the console’s home screen and in-game too.
Another addition to the controller comes in the shape of a new dedicated ‘Share’ button, which means you can capture screenshots and clips and share your gameplay on social media. Those with older legacy controllers from an Xbox One S (or One X) will be pleased to know you can pair them with the Series S.
Features
(Image credit: Future)
According to Liz Hamren, Head of Platform Engineering and Hardware for Xbox, the Series S delivers “four times the processing power of an Xbox One console”. On paper, the figures are 4 TFLOPS of power for the Xbox Series S, compared with 12.15 TFLOPS for the Series X.
The Series S is “similar in CPU” to the Series X, but not identical. The Xbox Series X uses an 8-Core AMD Zen 2 CPU running at 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT enabled) while the Series S uses the same CPU working at 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with SMT enabled).
The ‘X’ is powered by a 52CU (compute unit) RDNA GPU running at 1.825GHz, while its cheaper sibling has a 20CU, 1.565GHz GPU.
The Series S doesn’t have the graphics grunt of its sibling, meaning that resolution is a big difference between the consoles. The Xbox Series S has been geared towards outputting 1440p at 60Hz, up to a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. It can upscale the picture to 4K to match your 4K TV, but you won’t be able to see next-gen games in native 4K. You can only play games in native 4K resolution (at up to 120Hz) on the Xbox Series X.
But we wouldn’t write off the Xbox Series S just yet. While it does lose out on graphical power and resolution, it still has a range of features that will appeal to anyone looking to make the jump from, say, an Xbox One S.
You can still enjoy refresh rates to up to 120Hz. The console also supports VRR, variable rate shading and ray-tracing just like the Series X. You get the same Quick Resume feature, so you can pick up where you left off at the touch of a button, a faster SSD hard drive and a speedier user experience. All of these mean the Series S is a big step up from the previous generation Xbox One S.
All the streaming apps you need are there too, including Netflix, Spotify, Sky Go, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Disney+.
Picture
(Image credit: Future)
When it comes to playing games on the Xbox Series S, it’s difficult to find a lot to grumble about for the money. While it’s not native 4K, what it does dish out is easy on the eye. Play Madden 21 and the intro video bursts into life with a colourful and vibrant display of NFL uniforms and impressive-looking stadia shots.
Detail on jerseys and boots is good. The reflections on player helmets are glossy and add polish to the presentation. The motion of the players, whether they’re walking slowly into formation or blitzing the opposing team, is stable and we don’t notice anything in the way of tearing, judder or artefacts.
Gears 5 looks good too, even though it isn’t being rendered in true 4K. Compared with the Xbox Series X, the more powerful console delivers a picture with more ‘wow’ factor, but the Series S is by no means embarrassed. The on-screen detail is good enough, with decent texture on chiselled faces and war-torn body armour. Motion is stable, and there’s good insight in the shadows.
As a streaming device, the Xbox Series S presents a solid case too. Playing Altered Carbon via Netflix, the Series S produces a watchable picture, with none of the artificial appearance that can sometimes be served up by poorer streaming devices.
There’s a good sense of clarity and motion, with detail and definition both excellent too. As Quellcrist Falconer makes Angelfire rain down on her pursuers, the screen lights up with bolts of blue neon. As each soldier is struck down, the flames turn to embers, small pin pricks burning briefly, but ever so brightly, in Dolby Vision HDR. The detail in the shadows as she hides behind a fallen tree is nicely judged and not overly dark.
We’d say the Xbox Series S is comparable to an Apple TV 4K for picture quality, which is a great video streamer in its own right. That’s quite impressive for a games console.
Sound
(Image credit: Future)
Despite being a next-gen console, we’re still left scratching our heads at the way some audio settings have been implemented.
Instead of being able to pass unadulterated audio from your streaming service of choice through to your AV amp, the Xbox needs to decode and re-encode it. You need to navigate the console’s audio settings and pick one format which the console will then apply to everything. You can select from DTS Digital Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos for Home Theatre or DTS:X for home theatre. It’s not a particularly next-gen way of going about things.
Click on DTS:X and you’re told you need to download the DTS Sound Unbound app. This unlocks DTS:X for home theatre, but you still need to pay a further £17 to unlock DTS Headphones:X. Similarly, you need the Dolby Access app to get free Atmos support for your home theatre, but if you want Dolby Atmos for Headphones, that will cost you extra too. Seriously?
However, the Dolby Access app is handy for setting up a Dolby Atmos soundbar, AV receiver or TV. You can customise your audio settings and even switch on a built-in audio upmixer if you want some of the Atmos experience, but don’t happen to own a Dolby Atmos speaker package.
Oddly, during set-up we are greeted by a pop-up from the console asking if we want to pass Blu-ray audio directly to our AV receiver – someone clearly forgot that the Xbox Series S is a disc-less console.
Once set up, you get is a perfectly acceptable sonic performance. The console sounds punchy and lively with a decent sense of clarity, and an even tonal balance. It’s not as subtle or refined as a dedicated budget 4K Blu-ray player, such as the Sony UBP-X700, nor does it have the same sense of timing and natural flair with music. But it sounds lively enough when firing out the 80s soundtrack to Cobra Kai and the dialogue sounds clear and relatively weighty.
Switch to the opening chapter of Gears 5, and as Kait, Marcus et al arrive at the opening to the cave, the detail and definition in the whirring rotor blades is impressive. Combine this with the strings of the soundtrack, and the sound of the birds circling around the huge opening and the console creates a fine sense of immersion and atmosphere as you head underground.
Verdict
Xbox has been pretty smart with the Xbox Series S – the price tag alone will be enough for some to give it serious consideration. However, if true 4K resolution gaming or playing 4K Blu-rays matters to you, it won’t even be on your radar.
If you aren’t fussed about those and just want to play Xbox exclusives with some of the other game enhancements, such as VRR and the high frame rates, then the Series S isn’t a bad shout.
It could also be an affordable console for a second room or to keep the kids happy. After all, you still get a huge chunk of future-proofing and day-to-day performance upgrades that make it a decent jump up from the Xbox One S.
The Xbox Series S isn’t perfect. The user interface feels a little dated for a next-gen console and there are still too many quirks when you want to use it as part of a proper home theatre system. While it won’t necessarily appeal to everyone, if you’re happy with what the Series S can offer, you won’t be disappointed.
Apple’s new Siri Remote doesn’t come equipped with an accelerometer or gyroscope, which means it won’t work as a motion controller in certain Apple TV games. The omission was initially spotted by Digital Trends, and can be seen on the remotes’ product pages. The old Siri Remote lists an “Accelerometer” and “Three-axis gyro” in the tech specs, but they’re missing from the new listing (we’ve linked to a Google Cache because as of this writing Apple’s store is down ahead of AirTags pre-orders going live).
The change means that the new Siri Remote won’t work with certain Apple TV games that rely on motion controls. According to code in tvOS 14.5 seen by MacRumors, trying to play an incompatible game will lead to the following error message: “To play this game on your Apple TV, you need to connect the Apple TV Remote (1st generation) or a compatible PlayStation, Xbox or MFi controller.” If you’ve got one, you might want to keep an old Siri Remote around for occasions like this.
The lack of motion controls might sound surprising given the new Apple TV box was expected to have a bigger gaming focus, and arrives as Apple Arcade is maturing into a pretty compelling games subscription service. But in recent years Apple has shifted its attention towards more traditional gaming controllers, away from motion controls. It dropped its requirement for games to support the Siri Remote’s motion controls in June 2016 just months after the remote launched alongside the 2015 Apple TV. Then, in June 2019, it announced Apple TV support for Xbox One and PS4 controllers. Support for PS5 and Xbox Series X and S controllers is expected to arrive with tvOS 14.5.
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