Xbox One X and its current lack of FCC Approval

Xbox One X was officially revealed this morning at this year’s Xbox E3 Conference (our article, if you didn’t get the chance to watch it), with the console set to release on 7 November.

While we’re all keen to drop a pre-order on one now, some eager fans noticed on the Xbox site that the Xbox One X “…has not been approved by the Federal Communications Commission…” and that “…it is not for sale until the FCC approval has been obtained”.

So what does this mean? Essentially, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a regulatory body in the U.S where manufacturers must submit their electrical device for approval before it can be sold. In this instance, Microsoft has yet to receive approval for the Xbox One X, and in turn, cannot sell it right away.

Is this a big deal for the customer and the release date? Not really. It’s not uncommon for manufacturers to announce their products before they receive approval. This is usually to keep a not-yet-announced product secret before it is revealed to the public. An example of this is in late 2014, when Apple revealed the Apple Watch before it received FCC approval. There was no affect to its release date in April 2015.

In addition to the FCC, there are a number of other international bodies that a manufacturer has to get their product approved before selling in different countries. For Australia we have the Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM), which is number 27 on the image above. That is why your phone/console/controller/toaster has all those weird looking logos next to the manufacturer label.

If you’re planning on buying an Xbox One X, you can rest assured that it will make it into your hands on 7 November.