Microsoft didn’t beat around the bush with the reveal of its new Xbox One S console earlier today, touting a surprisingly affordable starting price of US$299 at the beginning of its E3 2016 conference.
Though the US price point converts to around $405 in Australian dollars, the dreaded “Australia Tax” is in full effect once again, with the 2TB Xbox One S console appearing on Aussie retail websites with a RRP of $549 – even factoring in GST, that’s still a markup of over a hundred dollars.
In some slightly better news, as of today, existing Xbox One consoles have received a price drop in Australia, with the 500GB version now selling for $399 and the 1TB version now listed at $499.
Regardless of its marked-up Australian price point, it must be said that the Xbox One S console’s 4K video functionality will make it the most affordable 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player in Australia when it launches in August – Samsung’s UBD K8500 player is currently the cheapest player available locally with a price of $599.
On that front, we guess the Xbox One S is pretty good value. However, we have to wonder if its worth buying into with Microsoft's beastly Project Scorpio console coming next year.
