Reminder: You Don't Need To Buy An HDMI 2.1 Cable For Xbox Series X

You might have noticed our sister site Push Square reporting yesterday that the PS5 was confirmed to include an HDMI 2.1 compatible cable in the box, so just as a reminder, this applies for the Xbox Series X too.

This won't affect the vast majority of Xbox Series X owners for the time being, as most TVs and monitors don't support HDMI 2.1 just yet. If yours does though, you'll be able to play next-gen games at 4K, 120 frames per-second where applicable, as well as take advantage of features such as variable refresh rate and auto low latency.

Here's what Microsoft has to say about latency specifically with HDMI 2.1 on Xbox Series X:

"Microsoft is an active member of the HDMI consortium, and the team worked hard to shape the HDMI 2.1 standard to support features important for Xbox Series X in a number of areas, including:

  • Transmission time to the TV: HDMI 2.1 supports up to 4k at 120 Hz which allowed the team to reduce frame transmission time from 16.6ms to 8.3ms, without sacrificing on resolution. This is an automatic 8.3ms latency improvement on TVs that support it and benefits games at all framerates.
  • Variable refresh rate (VRR): When games miss their frames, VRR will show the result with the lowest possible latency. 120 Hz TVs that support VRR typically have very large timing windows which makes above 40FPS performance free of screen tearing.
  • In-TV latency: Xbox Series X invokes Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM) on capable TVs to automatically enable Game Mode, removing any work previously required of gamers.
  • Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable: An Ultra High Speed HDMI cable is included with every Xbox Series X to ensure that players receive the premium gaming experience if they have an HDMI 2.1 compatible display."

Are you planning to make use of HDMI 2.1 on Xbox Series X? Let us know in the comments.