Yeah I don't think they can. Just imagine if Wolverine releases next year with amazing graphics on the PS5 Pro. It'll give the PS5 Pro a real wow factor which Xbox will struggle to compete with. And the Pro will be the go to console for all third party games.
Microsoft are probably hoping that their services and the games their first party will release will be enough to pull many people into the ecosystem and sell consoles. But it doesn't look great tbh. Sony will have a console that will completely outclass theirs for third party and I think Sony will still remain more attractive for 1st party games to the majority of people, at least for the next few years or so.
To be honest, this is all I want Microsoft to do.
Forget the competition of doing a good third party box, just offer awesome games and services to bring people in. They have PC to offer the power option. Go wild with that...buy what you want.
I'm hoping they use this opportunity to tick tock Sony and leave every console manufacturer pushing great content to incentives their eco system.
I'll have my awesome pc and xbox for my spare rooms. Ps5 Pro for my Sony exclusives and Nintendo to be the wonder that it is.