Microsoft announces Xbox One X as 'world's most powerful console

Microsoft has unveiled the next generation of its games console - the Xbox One X - which will be released later this year.

Presenting the device to the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft's Phil Spencer said the console will be launched worldwide on 7 November, costing $499 and £449.

The console is going to compete with rivals on a graphical processing basis, shipping with six teraflops of graphical computing power running at 1172MHz.

This exceeds by some distance the PS4 Pro's 4.2 teraflops at 911MHZ and sets a benchmark that may event tempt PC gamers towards the console.

Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, discusses the new console, at E3 (Photo by Casey Rodgers/Invision for Xbox/AP Images)
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Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, discusses the new console, at E3 (Photo by Casey Rodgers/Invision for Xbox/AP Images)
In addition to the console's support for 2160p (also known as 4K) visual display, Microsoft has claimed these features make the Xbox One X "the most powerful console in the world" - although it will also be the most expensive.

While that graphical processing power will see the console compare very positively with gaming PCs in the same price range, it may struggle to help Microsoft win market share from Sony.

Sales of Xbox consoles currently remain significantly behind those of the newer PlayStation models, which rumours suggest may be set to receive a price cut at Sony's E3 announcement on Monday.