PS5 has undergone at least two minor revisions. The so-called minor revision means that the appearance has basically not changed, but some internal adjustments have been made. From the current perspective, the latest PS5 has some changes in the motherboard design and radiator, which directly leads to the weight of the PS5 being about 600g lower than the earliest version. However, the latest news says that PS5 will usher in a real big change next year, and the overall appearance will be very different from now.
It is reported that this time, Sony will release an ultra-thin new version of PS5 in 2023, which may be named PS5 Slim. One of the major features of this thin host is that it uses a detachable USB optical drive, so that for users, the optical drive becomes detachable, and the entire host will also become smaller. Therefore, the appearance of the new PS5 has changed a lot. Of course, the core components will still be consistent with the present, but it is not ruled out that Sony will continue to streamline the motherboard and other components.
In addition, this generation of hosts uses TSMC 7nm to build chips. If Sony and and Microsoft want to further reduce power consumption and heat generation while maintaining performance, then TSMC's 5nm process can also be used to produce chips. This may be a little lower after integration. After all, power consumption and heat generation are reduced, the specifications of the power supply and heat sink can also be reduced, which is beneficial for the miniaturization and lightness of the entire model.
Interestingly, since the new version is said to be a detachable USB optical drive, so if it is removed, the PS5 host will become a digital version, and this optical drive can also run independently and will support the current Sony PS5 digital version. The latter can use the USB interface to connect to the optical drive after software updates. The launch of the new console will be from September to November next year, and November will be the three-year anniversary of the release of Sony PS5. So in addition to this new thin and light console, maybe the PS VR2 will be released at this time.
Speaking of PS VR2, although Sony has announced this console, the specific release date will definitely be next year. From now on, it will be either the first quarter or the fourth quarter, mainly March or November. These two periods have special significance for Sony. Of course, the first generation of PS VR was launched in October, so the specific time remains to be announced by Sony itself. However, there is a piece of information that has been basically confirmed, that is, PS VR2 will not support the previous generation of PS VR games.
Although the hosts of PS4 and PS5 are both x86 architectures, Sony should have used different hardware in the two generations of PS VR, so although the first generation of PS VR has 500 games, PS VR2 will not be compatible with these games. A Sony executive said: PS VR2 has more advanced features such as new controller haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, inward-out tracking, eye tracking and 3D audio. This means developing games for PS VR2 requires a completely different approach than PS VR. This actually represents Sony's official attitude, so players don't need to look forward to this feature too much.
However, although it cannot directly support PS VR games, PS VR games can support PS VR2 headsets through updates. I just don’t know how many game manufacturers are willing to do this, because this is equivalent to making a new version, and there is no fixed number of whether these games can be provided to players for free. But more importantly, there were not many games that impressed us in the previous PS VR games. Although the games were sold a lot, it is hard to say who deserves to develop a new version of PS VR2 separately.
