Who knows what’s happening with Sony’s next-gen hardware plans at this point? The platform holder is going to have some big decisions to make if it really is still targeting a 2027 release.
That’s because everything is getting more expensive, particularly in the tech space. A squeeze on components caused by AI companies, in addition to general economic headwinds – including tariffs introduced by the US government – has pushed the price of the PS5 Pro up to an unprecedented $899.99.
Some believe the PS6 could cost as much as $1,000 if it launches next year, although there’s still debate over whether Sony would charge that much.
One other question that remains is how the company will handle the console’s handheld model.
Those of you who’ve been reading the site for a while will know there’s strong evidence to suggest the Japanese giant is plotting a full-blown PS6 portable, that will share its library with its existing devices.
Writing on NeoGAF in a thread about the hypothetical handheld’s power, notorious snoop KeplerL2 said the device’s “GPU is a bit ahead of [Xbox Series S] in raster and massively ahead in raytracing”.
He added that he believes the next-gen version of PSSR – Sony’s AI-based upscaling solution, which it’s developed in collaboration with AMD for the PS5 Pro – will enable it to extract more power out of a smaller form factor.
It’s still unclear whether the handheld will play full-blown PS6 games, but with the next generation likely to have a long cross-gen period, it’s unclear how much that will matter.
Recently it was rumoured that you may even be able to dock the device, a bit like the Switch 2.
But the details around all this still seem a bit shaky to us.
Is Sony really going to introduce an expensive, dockable handheld alongside its next-gen console? Even ignoring recent price hikes, isn’t it going to be prohibitively expensive to buy both?
We’ll probably need to wait until Sony officially unveils its plans to get a clearer picture – and that’s assuming its plans haven’t changed, of course.