While we’re still a few years away from seeing the PlayStation 6 on store shelves, a recent leak has given us a glimpse into the potential specifications of Sony’s inevitable next-generation console. Or should I say,consoles.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the leak isn’t the specs themselves, but the implication that the PlayStation 5 Pro was something of a mistake. Let me explain.
The Rumored PlayStation 6 Specs
While you should take any leaks with a big pinch of salt, YouTube channel and reliable rumor millMoore’s Law is Deadclaims to have “100% confirmed” some things about Sony’s next-gen lineup. That said, many of the specs below are from a 2023 AMD presentation leak, and it’s very possible that things have changed since then.
How much faith you choose to put into these sources is up to you, but it’s no secret that we’re almost five years into the PS5 generation and that it makes sense that Sony would seek to lock in the specs for its next-generation hardware around this stage.
New hardware isn’t expected until 2027 at the earliest, and is currently thought to take two forms: a home console codenamed Orion, and a handheld codenamed Canis. It looks like Sony is releasing aproperhandheld alongside the PlayStation 6, which would make this the first true new portable PlayStation since 2012’s PS Vita (no,the PlayStation Portal doesn’t count).
The PS6 is rumored to be based on AMD’s RDNA 5 architecture, utilizinga chiplet design. RDNA 5 isn’t expected to arrive until late 2026 to early 2027, with the video suggesting Sony is going the “semi-custom” route. To deliver a next-generation graphical experience, rumors suggest Sony is calling on between 40 and 48 RDNA compute units running at speeds in excess of 3GHz.
In terms of raw compute power, current rumors point to eight AMD Zen 6 cores—a processor microarchitecture that is also expected to land in late 2026 to early 2027. This will potentially be backed up with fast GDDR7 RAM that’s capable of 32GT/s (gigatransfers per second), which conforms with the PCI Express 5.0 standard.
The console is expected to hit 160W TBP power consumption (TBP referring to total board power, or the maximum power throughput that the chip can receive). It’s very likely that Sony will be deploying some sort of hardware upscaling technology also, presumably an improved version ofthe PSSR technology seen in the PlayStation 5 Pro.
According to the leaked documents, the PS6 will retain backwards compatibility with the PS5 and PS4.
There Could Be a Handheld on the Way Too
Also revealed as part of the leak were details about a far less powerful yet portable PlayStation 6 handheld, expected to launch around the same time as the full-sized PS6. This model is expected to be based on the same CPU and GPU architecture as the PS6, namely RDNA 5 and Zen 6c.
The video concedes that this is likely to be far less powerful than even the current generation PS5, with a 15W TBP power target, only 4 CPU cores, and between 12 and 20 RDNA 5 compute units running at between 1.6 and 2GHz. It’s also expected to be running slower LPDDR5X RAM. These specs suggest that the handheld will beat out Microsoft’s higher-end Xbox Ally X handheld, which is to be expected of a console that’s due to arrive in two years’ time. Right now, Canis looks to be somewhere in the region of being half as powerful as a base PS5 and to retain backward compatibility with the PS4 and PS5.
Some more interesting facts from the leak include the presence of a microSD slotandan M.2 slot (which is already present on the PS5, and used to expand the console’s capacity with relatively affordable aftermarket NVMe storage). The video also states that the console will feature Sony’s signature haptics, a touchscreen, and dual microphones.
Sony is set to introduce a Low Power Mode for the existing PS5, which the video suggests could be indicative of the constraints imposed by a power-limited handheld variant. This would be an interesting way to prepare developers for what’s to come by laying some groundwork to get games next-gen ready. We’ll have to wait and see.
A Significant Leap Over the Current Generation
You’d be forgiven if your eyes start glazing over at the mention of compute units and gigatransfers per second. What really matters is how much better a PS6 is over the hardware that’s currently on the market, notably the base PS5, which is the console that the vast majority of owners have.
At present, the PS6 looks to provide a three-fold increase in rasterized performance over the existing PS5. Rasterized in this context refers to standard, non-ray-traced games. While some games do in fact use ray tracing on the PS5, a technique that simulates light rays that is seen as the “future” of 3D rendering, the vast majority do not. Some use carefully selected ray-traced elements, like shadows or reflections.
How this shakes out in gameplay requires some imagination. Dynamic resolution scaling is often used in modern games to reduce the render resolution when the frame rate starts to drop to help smooth out performance drops. At the same time, some games are frame rate limited to 30 or 60, to keep the gameplay feeling steady.
A three-fold increase in performance could get us a lot closer to “native” 4K gaming, where dynamic resolution scaling is called upon far less often. At the same time, it could allow us to push frame rates far higher to 120 frames per second. It could even allow for both, but it really depends on how developers choose to use their power “budget.”
Leaks suggest that ray-traced performance is expected to be even better. This isn’t surprising given how current-gen consoles struggle with ray tracing, and how hardware manufacturers are designing new hardware specifically with this rendering technique in mind. All this is before we’ve even considered how much of a role hardware upscaling will play in the future.
Right now, with limited information that may already be out of date, it looks like Sony is preparing a home console that can “saturate” current display technology. It’s quite possible we’ll see games running at a native 4K resolution, hitting 60 or even 120 frames per second, for at least some of the time. This is especially true of current-gen titles.
But no platform holder can control how developers choose to use the resources available to them. This isan issue that the PS5 Pro failed to solve, with Sony hoping to achieve the sorts of frame rates associated with “performance” mode at a level of fidelity you’d see in “quality” mode on a base PS5. While it can work, in some cases it has resulted in even more sliders and options to choose from.
The PS6 Could Undercut the PS5 Pro on Price
At this stage you might be thinking that the PlayStation 6 sounds a little underwhelming. Ironically,Moore’s Law really is dead. The idea that we can expect computational power to double every two years and become markedly cheaper is simply no longer true. But there’s something else at play here.
According to Moore’s Law is Dead (the YouTube channel), Sony is looking to price the PlayStation 6 at around the $500 mark, just as it did the base PS5. Rather than going for a far greater uplift in performance, this is indicative that costs are being cut in order to make the console conform to hit a sweet spot.
This seems wise given the lessons learned over the course of the last generation. The PS5 launched in the midst of a global pandemic that saw skyrocketing demand and plummeting production capabilities. After a slow recovery, economic uncertainty and import tariffs have thrown another spanner in the works. With two years to go before launch, anything could happen.
But the real elephant in the room is the PS5 Pro’s price point, at $749 before you’ve opted for an optional disc drive. Given how long it takes to design and manufacture hardware, it’s very likely that Sony committed to this long before a global cost-of-living crisis started to bite. Even so, an extra $250 for a small performance uplift was always going to feel like a tough sell.
Despite being the best possible version of Sony’s current-gen platform, the PS5 Pro offers two small benefits: a marginal boost in GPU performance and the first iteration of PSSR hardware-based upscaling. The hardware isn’t transformational enough to enable new gaming experiences outside of making things look and play a little better. Even Sony’s own presentation detailing the changes did a poor job of selling the console.
Sure, those ray-traced reflections inMarvel’s Spider-Man 2have a bit more detail, but am I going to notice this while I’m swinging through Manhattan at breakneck speed? The hardware is still CPU limited, which appears to be the main bottleneck holding back many games (likeDragon’s Dogma 2).
We’ve reached a state where—assuming these rumors hold true—you can wait two years, spend less money, and get a significantly more powerful console that really will feel like a generational leap.
The PlayStation 5 Isn’t Going Anywhere Soon
Backward compatibility is great and all, but there’s no denying that the PS4 generation hung around way too long. We saw many instances of games running at higher resolutions and frame rates on new hardware, while still releasing on last-gen consoles. This contributed to the feeling thatthe PS5 (and Xbox Series X) generation had stalled out of the gate.
Unfortunately, that phenomenon could strike again this time around. It’s unrealistic to expect developers and publishers to completely turn their backs on tens of millions of PS5 owners, at least within the first few years of a generation. But the presence of the rumored PS6 handheld—a cut-down version of the PS5—may provide even more incentive to drag heels.
If you want the best console money can buy, the PS5 Pro is the one to go for. But with a rumored two-year wait for brand new hardware that could provide a far more meaningful upgrade at a lower price point, I’d pass. Even if you don’t yet have a PS5, you might be better off picking up a used console and spending the money you’ve saved on games instead.
