Xbox One X/S will support AMD FreeSync and 1440p resolution in upcoming update

A Microsoft Xbox video game logo is seen at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, California. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

Gamers who own the Xbox One X and Xbox One S will soon be able to benefit from the FreeSync technology from AMD. It is supposed to be included in an upcoming update, although the exact date of that particular update's release is yet to be announced. Meanwhile, the latest update for the console is expected to include support for 1,440p gaming.

Displays compatible with FreeSync will have the added visual benefit of lesser tearing and stuttering when playing with gaming monitors. This is because AMD's FreeSync technology allows the monitors to set their refresh rate in sync with the Microsoft console. The innovation is somewhat similar to Nvidia's G-Sync.

Both these technologies are already available for PC gamers, and so the addition of 1,440p will set an experience not unlike those provided by powerful gaming PCs.

G-Sync and FreeSync are likely successors of a video rendering technique called Vsync or "virtual synchronization." Video cards with Vsync are able to set games' refresh rate to a predetermined frame rate, usually the default refresh rate of the monitor. The result is video output that is smoother and provides less stuttering. However, it should be noted that some machines with less power cannot afford to run some games at a fixed refresh rate, so some users sacrifice this smoothing feature and turn it off to gain more performance.

Vsync has not been adopted into consoles before, and so it is expected that FreeSync will provide Xbox One S and Xbox One X games with a much smoother gameplay experience with tearing reduced or even eliminated.

Meanwhile, Microsoft also plans to add a "low-latency" mode on future gaming displays. These TVs will detect if a game is being played, and will switch to low-latency mode if so. This automatic switching is particularly useful for Xbox owners who use their consoles for both gaming and video streaming (via Netflix, for example).