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📆 The release date for the PlayStation 6 has reportedly been leaked
🔜 According to leaker Moore's Law Is Dead, the console may release in late 2027 or early 2028
💪 The console is also rumoured to be 50 percent more powerful than the PS5 Pro and target the same $499 price tag as its predecessor
😮 The leak also suggested a PlayStation handheld could release at the same time and will be more powerful than the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X
The release date for Sony's next console, the PS6, has reportedly been leaked, and it's closer than many may have initially expected.
According to a recent Moore's Law Is Dead video, the leaker claims that the console has a potential Fall 2027 or early-2028 release date, with "manufacturing planned for mid-2027".
In addition, he also notes that Sony is going to be aggressive with pricing for the new console. The aim for Sony appears to be to keep to the same $499 price tag as the PS5, although with a spec sheet that equates to being 50 percent more powerful than the incumbent PS5 Pro.
The reputed spec sheet for the PlayStation 6 is assumed to be based on an APU with a chiplet design, potentially utilising AMD's 'Navi 5' desktop chiplets. It's also reported to contain eight Zen 6 (or later) cores, depending on the generation, alongside a GPU with 40-48 compute units on AMD's upcoming RDNA 5 graphics architecture with a 160W TBP.
In real-world performance, it should result in 3x better rasterisation than the PS5 with an even stronger uplift in ray-traced performance. It's a known quantity at the moment that AMD's ray-tracing performance in desktop-class PC graphics cards has improved vastly in the last five years, so this seems somewhat plausible.
The upcoming console is also rumoured to be backwards compatible with PS5 and PS4 titles, although native support for the PS3 will sadly be absent.
This list of specs is quite dated, though, supposedly coming from a leaked AMD presentation to Sony back in 2023, and MLID did say that some of the specs may have changed by now.
Alongside the console itself, MLID also stated that Sony is looking to release a handheld that's designed to complement the console – a PSP 2 of sorts, perhaps?
The handheld is rumoured to get a microSD slot as well as an M.2 SSD slot, and comes with a touchscreen, dual mics and haptic vibration. It may also include a USB-C port that has video out capabilities. MLID stated the specs mean it should beat the upcoming Asus ROG Xbox Ally X in performance, and it will be priced at $400-$500, reaffirming our previous predictions.
Of course, these are just leaks, so take them with a fine amount of salt. On paper, though, it looks like quite an exciting time for Sony in the next couple of years.
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.
