Microsoft’s $300 Xbox Series S was the most popular console during Black Friday, it’s been claimed.
According to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index data (first highlighted by Business Insider), the cheaper Series S outside both PS5, Switch OLED Model and the more expensive Xbox Series X during the biggest holiday sale day of the year.
Adobe claims its data comes from analysing 1 trillion visits to retail sites, in addition to surveying over 1,000 retailers on their most popular items.
If accurate, a key element of Series S’s popularity is likely that, unlike the highly sought-after PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, Series S has been widely available to purchase during Black Friday week. At the time of publishing, it’s still in stock at many retailers.
Series S was recently estimated to have outsold the more powerful Xbox Series X in several key markets during the consoles’ first year.
Xbox Series X/S at retail
That’s according to new data from Ampere Analytics, which estimates that the digital-only console is outperforming the more powerful Series X partly due to supply constraints and component shortages.
“Microsoft’s two-tier product strategy was a bold move at launch of the Series generation and the lesser-powered Series S has come into its own against a backdrop of component shortages and Xbox Series X supply constraints,” wrote Ampere’s games research director, Piers Harding-Rolls.
At $300 / £250, the Xbox Series S console is significantly cheaper than the $500 / £449 Series X, thanks to lower specs than target 1440p gaming instead of native 4K.
According to Ampere, the success of the Series S is said to be having a significant impact on Xbox digital game sales when compared to the PlayStation 5, which still positions its disc-based model ahead of the digital-only SKU in retail.
Microsoft’s head of gaming, Phil Spencer, has previously said he expects the Xbox Series S to outsell Xbox Series X over the course of the console generation.
