As Sony is rumored to be updating its popular PS4 console this year with a much more powerful offering, rumors have emerged that Microsoft has similar plans. However, recently, these have indicated that the software major is aiming to get a step ahead of its competitor and release not one but two consoles.

The rumors about the two new consoles from Microsoft first emerged last month in a FCC filing, but since then, very little was revealed about them. However, Kotaku recently reported that a new smaller and cheaper Xbox One would be releasing this year, and following this, the company will be bringing out a much more powerful console. More importantly, the higher end console will be releasing sometime next year.

As for the names that have been assigned to the consoles, there are reports that the more powerful one is dubbed the Scorpio. This is likely a codename for the console and it is thought to have a much more powerful GPU than the current Xbox One. Sources close to the project have also revealed to Polygon that the Scorpio console will be running at 6 teraflops.

Coming to the cheaper console which is rumored to arrive this year, it is likely to have several improvements over the Xbox One. Among these improvements is a 2 TB hard drive which will make it attractive for gamers who want plenty of space to store their games. As for the release date of this particular device, it is said that it will be unveiled during the upcoming E3 2016 gaming conference. More importantly, this release date is thought to be accurate as several sources have provided websites with the same information.

However, it is likely that Microsoft will not be providing much information about the upcoming console until E3 rolls around. Meanwhile, officials from the company have hinted that it plans to combine the Xbox and Windows offerings and bring out games that work on both like "Halo Wars 2." This could also indicate that the upcoming games from Microsoft, such as "Halo 6," will also be created for the PC.