With PlayStation 5 Pro now in the rear-view mirror, attentions now turn to the next chapter of Sony’s console series. Turns out, PlayStation 6 is potentially just a few years away as rumours claim the device is in the pre-silicon validation phase.
Leaker KeplerL2 claims that Sony has completed the SoC (System on Chip) design for PlayStation 6, scheduling A0 tape-out for later this year. This essentially means that the company is verifying performance and functionality of the first fabricated chips, ensuring it meets targets. Whispers suggest this silicon will incorporate AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology and UDNA GPU architecture.
More specifically, PlayStation 6 will likely have an AMD Zen 6 CPU at its heart, partly manufactured using TSMC’s N2 node. Since the N2-based portion likely refers to the denser Zen 6c cores, the PS6 could combine two core designs like some AMD APUs.
On the GPU side, leaks talk about AMD’s UDNA design which marks a huge change from current RDNA GPUs. This means new potential features unavailable on PS5 consoles, like FSR 4 upscaling and frame generation.
The PlayStation 6 should mark a huge jump from its predecessor in terms of performance and efficiency too. As a reminder, the PS5 uses Zen 2 from 2019 and RDNA 2 from 2020. In addition to the architectural improvements, the console could pack more CPU cores and memory, to be ready for upcoming high-fidelity games. Talking of which, game developers could receive their first dev kits as early as 2026 if KeplerL2 is correct.
Lastly, as part of the UK’s investigation into Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition, Sony shared some documents. In these, the brand expects to launch its next-gen console around 2027. Sony’s cadence between A0 tape-out and system releases of two years further supports this date. Not to forget that seven years separate the last three console generations.
It’s far too early to imagine what Sony will want to charge for PlayStation 6, but I would hope to see pricing somewhere between base PS5 and its Pro sibling. This would put its cost in the region of $600 which hopefully includes a disk drive too.
