Rumor: New PlayStation Handheld May Be More Powerful than Xbox Series S

A reliable insider has divulged some new information that may provide insight into the capabilities of the long-rumored next-gen PlayStation handheld system. Despite being a portable machine, the new PlayStation handheld could deliver a gaming experience comparable to the current crop of home consoles.

With the PS5’s lifecycle having tipped into its latter half last year, speculation has begun swirling about what the PlayStation 6 might look like and when it could arrive. Sony has expectedly remained tight-lipped about future PlayStation hardware, but several industry insiders have stepped up to the plate with claims of the gaming giant’s next-gen plans. Many of them concur that Sony is developing a brand-new portable console, which will launch alongside the PS6 and re-establish PlayStation’s presence in the handheld market.

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However, the capabilities of this rumored PlayStation handheld have been a subject of debate for a while, with some reckoning it could deliver a PS5-level experience, while others expect modest PS4-like performance. Now, credible hardware insider Kepler L2 has come forth with some fresh alleged details about the new PlayStation handheld’s chipset and how powerful it could be. Over on NeoGAF, the insider recently claimed that the new PlayStation handheld will be powered by a 15W chipset fabbed on a 3nm architecture. A power draw this low will almost certainly fall short of PS5-like performance, so should this be true, the new PlayStation handheld will be less powerful than the PS5.

New PlayStation Handheld Performance May Range Between Xbox Series S and PS5

According to KeplerL2, the new PlayStation handheld’s chip runs at very low voltages to optimize power efficiency for portable use. However, since the portable system is supposedly being built on an unreleased AMD GPU architecture, it’s difficult to pinpoint the architectural performance gains over the current RDNA 2 GPUs at the moment. KeplerL2 alleged that while the new PlayStation handheld’s GPU will include “a lot less” Compute Units (CUs) than the PS5’s 36, it will still exceed the performance of the Xbox Series S, which has 20 CUs. Therefore, the new PlayStation handheld could land somewhere in between the Series S and PS5 in terms of raw graphical power.

New PlayStation Handheld Could Run PS5 Games, But Not at the Same Graphical Settings

If KeplerL2’s information is valid, the new PlayStation handheld should be capable of running PS5 games natively, albeit at much lower resolutions and potentially reduced visual fidelity to accommodate the smaller form factor and thermal limitations. This may not be much of an issue, though, as PS5 games are developed with 4K TVs in mind and handhelds have smaller, lower-resolution displays. As for when the new PlayStation handheld may debut, the insider claimed that its chipset is expected to “tape out” (the final stage of integrated circuit design) a few months after the main PS6 console’s chipset, suggesting that both devices are being developed in close tandem.

However, one key question that remains unanswered is whether the new PlayStation handheld will be able to run PS6 games. Sony has historically treated PlayStation handhelds as separate systems from the main home consoles, with very little crossover between the two in terms of games and services. Things are quite different these days, though, with the success of the Steam Deck having proven that many handheld users appreciate their existing libraries being playable without any hitches. Should Sony be able to achieve that with the new PlayStation handheld and simultaneously make it an extension of the PS6, the gaming giant could have a major winner on its hands.