Microsoft is starting to test a new higher resolution dashboard for the Xbox Series X today. Xbox Insiders in the Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead rings will get access to the increased resolution for the Xbox dashboard later today, designed to improve UI elements for 4K displays.
“This change means Home, Guide, and other areas of the UI will be displayed in a higher native resolution for increased sharpness and text readability,” says Microsoft’s Xbox testing team.
Until this new dashboard, Xbox Series X consoles had been running dashboard UI elements at 1080p. Native elements for Home, Guide, and other parts of the dashboard will greatly improve how the Xbox Series X appears on 4K TVs. While Microsoft mentions a “higher native resolution” for certain elements, it doesn’t appear that the entire dashboard is in 4K yet.
During our testing, we’ve noticed a big improvement to the readability of text, and some of the UI elements in the Xbox Series X Guide have also been bumped. The improvements are less noticeable elsewhere, though. We’ve reached out to Microsoft to confirm the resolution of the Xbox dashboard.
HDR is not part of this new resolution bump, and it’s strictly limited to the Xbox Series X for now. The smaller Xbox Series S can technically output at 4K, but its dashboard remains the same in test versions at the moment.
These new Xbox dashboard changes come just days after Microsoft also started testing a new night mode for various Xbox consoles. The new night mode allows Xbox owners to dim their screens, controller LED brightness, and even the Xbox power button. Both the 4K dashboard and night mode should start rolling out to all Xbox Series X consoles later this year.
Update, August 17th 7:30AM ET: This story has been updated to note the Xbox Series X dashboard might not be in full 4K yet. We’ve reached out to Microsoft to clarify the details, and we’ll update you accordingly.
