Right.  But, there were also 2 TB variants of the Xbox One S (not sure about the PS4 or PS4 Pro).  But to the best of my knowledge, no 2 TB variants of the Xbox One X.  So the Xbox One consoles went as high as 2 TB, only to eventually settle back down to 1 TB HDDs as the one and only option for all variants.

I think the important point was that they experimented with larger-than-1-TB and, for whatever reason, appear to have decided it wasn't enough of a selling point.  At least, last-gen it wasn't.  You could argue that it's more beneficial for current-gen console, and yet it costs more at the manufacturing level to add more storage to current-gen consoles (which argues against them wanting to do it, at least for now when they're A) selling every unit they make, and B) trying to keep costs down).

Of the four variants of current-gen consoles, all indications are that the Series S will be the first to become generally in-stock/available.  The Series S isn't currently generally available in stock everywhere in North America, and may not remain so elsewhere as we get closer to the holidays, but it's nonetheless on the earliest trajectory to being so.  Which likely means the earliest price cut, or value add (such as a bundle) will likely come to Series S.  And it also means that the earliest upgrade (more storage, or whatever that upgrade is) will likely also come to Series S.

Microsoft seems committed to the Series S for the long-term (they have predicted it will ultimately outsell the Series X), but they may recognize that the current Series S might be perfect for India, Brazil, etc.  Whereas we get a new Series S with more storage, or an optical drive, or whatever upgrade they deem it needs to be more successful in North America/Europe/Japan/etc.  In that scenario, we'd likely get both options in developed markets, I suspect.

Yep your points make sense. And well S is the one that would benefit more from the upgrade on size since it is the only of the 4 that came with 500GB disk. But since the value proposition is the key on it and we haven't seem much complain about the storage size it may only comes like holiday 2022.

For sure.  Designing a new console, getting it in the supply chain, and waiting for it to hit stores, is a lengthy process at the best of times.  And this is NOT the best of times!

Not to mention, demand is global (case in point, Series S is reportedly easy to come by in Europe, but it's still selling out in North America) so Microsoft will be able to shift demand around first before declaring Series S actually meeting demand.  And that's without the anticipated increase in demand in places like India that they're forecasting.  People in India just got 8 months of free Game Pass as part of a regulatory change, the lucky dogs, and Microsoft might want to make sure ample Series S units are available for sale in India during that time.

FWIW, I tried game streaming to the Series S when it launched today, and it worked flawlessly.  So there's a future where that tech matures, and local storage matters less.  Stream the Series X version of the game to your Series S!  Whether that future arrives this-gen or not, only time will tell.  :)

Well the Xcloud will certainly come in hand. Simple stream even PS4 to PSVita or smartphone was already working quite well, so yep streaming from Series X to S in the same network should be a breeze.

That's a different kind of streaming.  I streamed a game from Microsoft's servers, which run Series X-based hardware, and streamed it to my Series S.  Been doing it daily for certain titles since they opened up xCloud streaming to consoles yesterday.  Right now it's limited to 1080p/60, and latency is a question-mark.  All the same things you always say about streaming tech.  But as the tech matures, perhaps a day will come where you can get a lower-latency experience running it on your Series S vs. a higher-fidelity experience streaming it to your Series S.  If that comes to be, it could be an interesting choice for people down the road!  Could be particularly useful for some types of games where latency isn't much of an issue (turn-based games, slower-paced games, etc.).

I played Conan: Exiles over xCloud today and I found the experience was just fine, but I have pretty good internet.

Gotcha. The way you wrote the previous post I understood as the local streaming. But yes I have heard good things about the XCloud, I'm thinking about testing it here in Brazil, but my internet at the moment is quite unreliable.

That's a bit of a problem with streaming. When I have time to sit down in front of the tv with a game, my internet is usually quite unreliable. Prime time, everyone is streaming tv and gaming online. I notice it with GT Sport already, connection getting bad from 7pm. Same with FS2020, Azure text to voice cutting out, data not streaming in very well anymore in the evening. Hence I rather play a single player game offline in the evening. 100 mbps internet, yet during prime time, unstable with high latency spikes. Very bad for game streaming.

Yep, here even if I'm alone at home because the provider sells much more than their infraestructure allows I get a very shabby service.

That sucks, I'm really sorry to hear that!  My experience in Canada is that the home internet companies tend to be very good in general.  We pay higher prices than you might in other countries, but at least you get a very high level of service too.  Same dynamic with mobile phones and mobile data, Canadians pay a higher price but also rarely suffer any kind of network congestion.  So it's a get what you pay for kind of thing.  But that means xCloud works flawlessly for me, at least, even for action games.  I honestly forget that I'm playing the game over streaming!