Our Xbox One vs PS4 guide has all the facts you need to pick the right console for you.
The debate between PS4 and Xbox One has been something gamers have asked for years. But, despite what some people will claim, there’s no definitive answer on which last-generation console reigns supreme.
The PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S are the latest and most powerful consoles. But while the PS4 and Xbox One are now officially considered last-generation consoles, this does not mean they should be dismissed outright. Both still pack a punch, even in today’s digital climate.
Iconic games like Halo Infinite and Horizon Forbidden West set the boundary for both last-gen consoles and their next-gen counterparts. So this is great news for anyone without the budget for a new console who still wants to play some of the most iconic titles on both platforms. However, cross-generation releases are slowly winding down, so just be aware of that before going ahead with a purchase.
What’s more, if you’re just interested in playing games — and you aren’t overly concerned with the latest hardware, features, and native 4K resolutions — you can pick up the PS4 or Xbox One for an excellent price right now. Unfortunately, you’ll struggle to find places where you can buy the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro new. That’s because they’ve been discontinued, though both are available second-hand.
In fact, because stock levels for both the Xbox Series X and PS5 were both low for a long time, the last-gen consoles remain the quickest and easiest way to access many of the latest games. That includes their subscription services, like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus.
So, if the current-gen battle between PS5 vs Xbox Series X isn’t relevant to you because you don’t want a brand new console – or your budget doesn’t allow for one – we can help you decide whether the PS4 or Xbox One is the best choice. In our guide below, we’ve compared all the important details for both consoles, including design, prices, features, and the games they both have to offer.
On release, the PS4 price was the more tempting deal: $399 (£349.99 / AU$549) for the console and DualShock 4 controller. The Xbox One was relatively expensive, at $499 (£429 / AU$499) for the system, Xbox One controller, and Kinect.
But now, after several price drops from both consoles (not to mention now that the Xbox One has dropped its compulsory Kinect peripheral), the two consoles are much more evenly matched. Typically we’ll see the PS4 priced at around $299/£249 and the Xbox One S at around £149/£199.
However, while Sony’s continuing PS4 production into 2022, Microsoft stopped production for the Xbox One range entirely. As such, anyone after Microsoft’s last-gen machine may have to pick up a used console. It’s one reason why PS4 and Xbox One prices seem to change by the week, with price drops and bundle deals coming and going faster than handheld PlayStation systems.
Add in special events, such as Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday, and dedicated storefront sales. While all of these bundles are great for consumers, it can be hard to keep up with the latest pricing info. So, in an effort to cut through the noise, here are the latest prices and bundles for each console.
Simplifying matters slightly, both Sony and Microsoft have discontinued their more powerful 4K-capable mid-gen upgrades, the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro. This means new stock can be really quite hard to come by, so you might have to look for second-hand consoles. If you want to dial back the cost of either console, it might be worth considering an Xbox One S and PS4 Slim.
We want to save you time in your PS4 vs Xbox One deliberations. So the box on the right will take you through some of the finer details of each console with their upgraded models if that’s what you’re after. Otherwise, we’ll be comparing the ecosystems of each platform in the rest of the article below.
Both the Xbox One and the PS4 have different versions that you can buy right now. The PS4 has two and the Xbox One has three.
The Xbox One S improved on the original Xbox One’s design by cutting down a lot of the heft, removing the gigantic power brick, and making use of an internal power supply instead. It measures 11.6 x 8.9 x 2.5 inchesand, unlike the previous version, includes a 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray player – it will even upscale 1080p games to 4K, providing your TV can support it.
However, if you prefer a more streamlined version of the Xbox One S, then the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition may be more your cup of tea. The 1TB disc-less console looks and performs like its predecessor but lacks a disc drive – so that means no Blu-ray or physical discs.
The Xbox One X might be heftier than the Xbox One S, but it’s still considerably smaller than the original Xbox One, coming in at 11.81 x 9.44 x 2.36 inches and weighing around 8.4 lbs (this console also has an internal power supply). This is the high-powered version of the Xbox One, with native 4K gaming as well as a 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray player (something not even the PS4 Pro can boast).
Starting out on the PS4 side, the PS4 Slim is straight up the smallest of the major consoles available right now, measuring in at 10.4 x 11.3 x 1.5 inches and serving as the baseline PS4 for most consumers – completely replacing the original PlayStation 4. It doesn’t give you 4K resolutions, even for video, but it can still play every game from the PS4’s impressive library.
The PS4 Pro was the original 4K console, coming out an entire year before the Xbox One X – even if Microsoft’s box eventually outpowered it. It measures 12.8 x 11.6 x 2.1 inches. While the PS4 Pro does support native 4K gaming to some extent, it doesn’t include a 4K Ultra-HD Blu-Ray Player, an omission that attracted some flak for Sony.
The PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim have similar inputs, although they are slightly different. Each has a single HDMI out, a single USB port in the back (two in the front), an Ethernet port, and power.
The only difference between the Pro and the Slim is that the Pro has an Optical Audio out, while the Slim drops it. One of the most compelling things about PS4 connectivity, however, is that both versions allow users to swap out the internal hard drive with another one of their choice.
All versions of both the Xbox One and PS4 support 802.11 ac Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet – so no matter which console you pick to decide on, you won’t have to worry about network compatibility. However, due to the downfall of Kinect, if you want to use a Kinect with either version of the Xbox One, you’ll need an adapter.
PS4 and Xbox One are devoid of remarkable characteristics on the front. There’s a Blu-ray/DVD combo drive to the left (which can play Ultra HD Blu-rays on the Xbox One S and Xbox One X) and their respective, muted-color logos to the right. PS4 has a pair of USB ports tucked between its sandwich-like halves, next to where the disc drive is located.
One thing the Xbox One pulls ahead with is smart home integration. 2018 saw Microsoft announce support for Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, meaning your Xbox One can communicate with Amazon’s line of Echo smart speakers or other Alexa-enabled devices –which might be a practical alternative to using voice commands through Kinect.
PS4 and Xbox One multiply the power of Xbox 360 and PS3. More importantly, they’re built with smarter internal designs, learning from some mistakes of last-generation consoles.
Chip manufacturer AMD is behind most of these upgrades. Both the original Xbox One and the Xbox One S have a custom, 1.75GHz AMD 8-core CPU, while the Xbox One X bumps that up to a 2.3GHz 8-core chip.
The base PS4 CPU remained clocked at 1.6GHz and contains a similar custom AMD 8-core CPU with x86-based architecture, while the PS4 Pro bumps that clock speed up to 2.13GHz.
The original PS4 boasts a 1.84 teraflop GPU that’s based on AMD’s Radeon technology. Meanwhile, the original Xbox One graphics chip, also with an AMD Radeon GPU, had a pipeline for 1.31 teraflops, although this increased to 1.4 teraflops with the Xbox One S and to a whopping 6.0 teraflops on the Xbox One X.
The PS4 Pro, meanwhile, has a GPU with a considerably increased 4.2 teraflops of graphical horsepower. When it came to the original consoles, the PS4 won out in terms of raw power, although the Xbox One S closed the gap considerably. Microsoft, with the release of the Xbox One X, took the title of «most powerful console» from Sony.
Even more controversial is the memory under the consoles’ matte black hoods. It’s not the amount of RAM at issue – both are future-proofed with 8GB of RAM – it’s the type of RAM used.
Both the PS4 and PS4 Pro have a distinct advantage with faster 8GB GDDR5 memory, while both the original Xbox One and the Xbox One S went with the slower bandwidth of the 8GB DDR3 variety. But, wait, there’s more to it.
Neither system allocates all of that RAM to game developers – some is reserved to run their respective operating systems.
PS4 reserves up to 3.5GB for its operating system, leaving developers with 4.5GB, according to the documentation. They can sometimes access an extra 1GB of «flexible» memory when it’s available, but that’s not guaranteed.
Xbox One’s «guaranteed memory» amounts to a slightly higher 5GB for developers, as Microsoft’s multi-layered operating system takes up a steady 3GB. It ekes out a 0.5GB win with more developer-accessible memory than the PS4 consoles unless you factor in Sony’s 1GB of «flexible» memory at certain times – then it’s 0.5GB less.
Then, you get to the Xbox One X, which blows away the other consoles by offering a drastically higher 12GB of RAM, meaning that game developers have access to a whopping 9GB of RAM for games (a necessity when playing in native 4K).
