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With the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X firmly established in-market, thoughts have already begun to plow towards what sort of console might exist coming in the not-too-distant time to come. The PlayStation iv lineup isn't very sometime by console standards — information technology'll exist 5 this twelvemonth — but one written report suggests Sony is already sampling dev kits for the upcoming PlayStation 5.

That's the word from SemiAccurate, but most of their story is behind a paywall. It'due south been summarized elsewhere (whether it'southward been summarized accurately or not is impossible to determine) and it doesn't give the kind of specifications one might hope for. The PS5 would utilise AMD's upcoming Navi architecture as its baseline and be built around a custom Zen microprocessor, according to Resetera. Dev kits accept supposedly been seeded in such numbers, the SemiAccurate writer believes a 2018 launch isn't out of the question, and there are supposedly VR "goodies" baked in at the silicon level.

Of all the ideas contained herein, the 1 genuinely odd one would exist launching a console in later 2018. First, information technology's odd that Sony might consider this step given that we've gotten no publicity — at this betoken in the PS4's hype cycle, nosotros already knew the console was coming afterward in 2013, even if we didn't know much else.

The case confronting the PS5 launching so shortly is also like shooting fish in a barrel to empathise. When the PS4 debuted in 2013, one of the chief complaints from gamers was that it didn't offer enough of a visual upgrade compared with the PS3, despite the seven-twelvemonth difference betwixt them. Jumping for the PS5 at present, just two years after the launch of the PS4 Pro (Run across on Amazon), would trigger the same kinds of complaints. That'due south peculiarly true since we haven't fifty-fifty seen a single major process node compress since the PS4 Pro debuted. Node shrinks deliver cooler operating temperatures and lower power consumption, which is the principle reason why the Xbox Ane X (See on Amazon) and PS4 Pro were able to pack in dramatically better performance without driving racket, thermals, and power consumption into the stratosphere.

While it'southward likely truthful that AMD'southward Zen can deliver better functioning, than the company's low-power Jaguar architecture, Zen is nevertheless a larger cadre than Jaguar was. Again, this is where procedure node shrinks come up in handy, but the modest move to a refined xvi/14nm node (12nm in marketing speak) probable doesn't requite Sony all that much additional headroom. 2019 or 2020 seems similar a much more plausible target for a major console launch.

Backwards Compatibility Would Change the Game

The only way it makes sense for Sony to launch a new major iteration of its game console this quickly is if it intends to retain full backwards compatibility. At that place's no reason why it couldn't. Different previous panel generations, which often fabricated radical leaps from one architecture to the next, maintaining x86 compatibility for an x86 application isn't a very large deal. Similarly, maintaining GPU compatibility between the Polaris-class GPU within the PS4 Pro and a Navi-class GPU inside a hypothetical PS5 shouldn't exist a major issue, either.

The larger question would be whether Sony wanted to follow the so-chosen "iPhone model" when it comes to maintaining backwards compatibility between console generations. It'south i thing to say that the PS4 must play every game the PS4 Pro plays, and something else to say the PS5 and PS4 Pro must play the same games. Gamers who knew the PS4 Pro and PS4 maintained compatibility would probably rightly look that to continue to exist the instance. Another culling is maintaining backwards compatibility across the PS4 / PS5 generation, with the PS4 being targeted for lower resolutions and reduced visual avails. This would too piece of work, only inject still more complication for developers and might slow down sales of the new platform, since gamers would presumably choose to stick with hardware they already ain. All of this tin be avoided if the PS5 can play PS4 games but not vice-versa, and that's the road we'd expect Sony to take.

The alternative would run across Sony leave people to buy a brand new panel in the shortest window betwixt launches in the modern generation, at a time when information technology'south going to face a challenging effort in delivering higher performance without using a larger chassis or college-end power supply. And let'southward face it — what reason does Sony have to try and steal a march on Microsoft? The PS4 has outsold the Xbox One past more 2-to-1. Get-go mover advantage doesn't always work out that way — just ask Nintendo near the Wii U — and Sony doesn't need to launch a quick Hail Mary to reestablish themselves at the top of the market.

We're non saying that Sony couldn't launch a new console this twelvemonth or in 2019. But we'd exist very surprised if it did without some form of backwards compatibility with the PS4 generation.