Image: Push Square

There’s understandable concern about the price of next-gen hardware, and I think that’s undoubtedly going to dominate discussion around the PS6.

But let’s not forget that Sony tends to make incredible consoles, and it’s going to be exciting to see what the Japanese giant achieves with its new devices.

I’m particularly fascinated by its strongly rumoured handheld model, codenamed Canis.

While nothing has been officially confirmed by the manufacturer, it’s expected it will deliver a both a traditional stationary system and a portable device, each sharing the same catalogue of games.

And according to some off-hand speculation by tech experts Digital Foundry, Sony’s standing in the industry may give it dibs on the most advanced handheld on the market.

The quote that’s doing the rounds, attributable to veteran Rich Leadbetter, is as follows:

“There has been some behind the scene discussions that Sony has an exclusive of sorts on RDNA 5 for handheld with its mobile device that’s coming.”

RDNA 5 is the latest version of AMD’s GPU technology, and it prioritises efficiency and ray tracing, as well as AI-based processing solutions.

We know that PlayStation and AMD have a very tight relationship, and have partnered on the development of technologies like PSSR and FSR. The two companies are intertwined.

The speculation is that, moving forward, AMD is only willing to produce custom silicon for its biggest and best clients. PlayStation is certainly among that, and would have the negotiating power to encourage the chip manufacturer to make something bespoke for its system.

So I think Leadbetter is effectively saying that this may not necessarily be a money hat, it’s just that Sony’s stronger sales projections give it the leverage to develop a more advanced chip that will be unique to its product.

It’s long been rumoured that the PS6 handheld will boast an RDNA 5 GPU, and that could give it a significant advantage over the competition.

Of course, the conversation will once again revert to price, and given the rising costs of computing components, I wouldn’t expect this to be cheap.

I’m really fascinated to see how Sony introduces the PS6 product portfolio: a single stationary system at $1,000+ already looks like a tough sell, but when you factor in an optional $1,000+ handheld as well – that just sounds like a big ask, doesn’t it?

[source reddit.com, via psu.com]