There has been mention that Anaconda will be more advanced, with no mention of performance. If this is true, it would almost suggest XB is going to wait and use whatever GPU comes after Navi, or at least have that tech baked into Navi, which PS5 may not have. By waiting another year they could also use fourth gen Ryzen instead of third gen like PS5 will be using. They could even be thinking of using HBM memory, which is not cheap. This could allow MS to have a similar or slightly weaker spec'd console on paper that performs better than PS5 due to the advanced hardware. If XB were to stick to their 4 year trend, good idea or not, it would set them up for a 2021 launch. If XB were able to convince AMD to move up all that hardware up for a 2020 launch, the cost for MS would be outrageous. Not only would they have to eat a tonne of cost up front, but $499 for Anaconda would almost be impossible.

If by some chance Navi really was locked down to PS5, MS would basically have little choice and would have to wait for what comes afterwards if they want to guarantee they end up with the stronger console. Otherwise they could end up having the less advanced, lower performing console, which doesn't seem to be the route they want to take, unless they are bluffing.

That might have worked for sony gen 7, but that was cuz playstation 2 was the best selling console ever. Do you really think coming from so far behing and having such lackluster games, that if the ps5 comes a whole year early, the few xbox fans remaining wont just jump ship? I mean I feel its almost week by week that soome bad news from MS comes out. The latest was the xbox sad release. 

No I don't think sitting back and waiting is a good idea for MS, but I also don't think the SAD edition One S was a good idea either, not to mention the $250 price point on top of that. It's quite possible that no matter what MS does, it may not impact PS5 all that much either way if PS doesn't screw up. If MS hasn't learned by now, what makes you think they've got it figured out for next gen? Unless all these 'mistakes' are just bluffs, and costly one's at that.

Microsoft should have redesigned the online-only edition of the Xbox One S to truly differentiate the SKU. It could be a significantly smaller device for one... Then it might be a little more tenable.

I am seeing the discless Xbox One S as a "test" for next gen, if sales are healthy it might give Microsoft the excuse to release a next-gen console from day 0 at a lower price point without an optical disk drive, that way they aren't likely to tarnish their next-gen launch window if shit hits the proverbial fan.

I wouldn't doubt they're testing the waters either, but that also makes me wonder how close the next XB's are. Even a late 2020 launch at this point seems too soon, unless they have that many different designs ready to go just in case, or if the streaming digital console is an all in one unit that they can just add a disc drive to if the One SADE flops.

They def should have redesigned the internals if they weren't going to change the specs at all. It wouldn't have taken much to change the heatsink design and drop a blower fan in, move the hdd a bit and thin out and lengthen the PSU so the unit could be slimmer. Either that or maybe just drop the 2.5" hdd and add in a 3.5" in the empty optical drive space at 4TB-6TB so the $250 price point was well worth it.

Update

Coming from an anaconda dev kit.

More sources say the anaconda is more powerfull. saying 12 teraflop+

I find Red Gaming Tech to have a serious confirmation bias and is probably not a valuable source of information.
Salt and grains and cats and all that.

I think MS will come out with a family of consoles:

Around the PS5 launch they will offer a digital only and disc variant weaker than the ps5.

A year later they will launch a more powerful console.

I dint think they can afford to sell at a great loss or launch late. If they want the most powerful console that's not a little bit a lot more powerful, they will need to have a staggered launch.

People looking at the x1x for price comparison have to understand it was cheap to produce drive it was using old tech, just more of it. Unlike launch x1 it didn't have cost taken up by the Kinect either.

MS will make up numbers via people buying 2 consoles due to cheaper, weaker and discless option.

This will probably part of their big push going up against Google for streaming crown.

I would be disappointed if the next Xbox isn't aiming for 12TF. I mean the X1X had about a 5x increase in 2017.

Given all the unique tech these days I wouldn't be surprised if each console has its own strengths. But I assume MS is aiming to put the most powerful hardware on the market.

To many assumptions.

Unless MS decides to launch 6-12 months later they can't ever be assured they'll be stronger than PS5 without breaking NDAs and contracts Sony have with developers or AMD. One can say MS is more likely to have the stronger console, eat more cost, launch more expensive, etc and that is fine, but no one can assure that MS will have the most powerful HW.