The rumored portable PS6 allegedly offers better performance than the Xbox Series S, and is capable of running PS5 games at a lower resolution and frame rate.
Known hardware insider KeplerL2 took to the NeoGAF forums to share some details regarding the expected performance of the rumored portable PS6. As per them, the handheld’s SoC is entirely different from that of the console PS6, and it is specifically designed to run at very low voltages. Additionally, they mentioned that its GPU will contain “a lot less than” 40 Compute Units.
When asked by a fellow NeoGAF member whether the portable PS6 is more powerful than the PS4 Pro, but weaker than the PS5, the insider stated that this would be hard to estimate at this point in time, as it’s based on an unreleased GPU. That said, they believe it is capable of running PS5 games, just not at the same resolution and frame rate, mainly due to lower memory bandwidth. They further said that the handheld’s performance falls somewhere between the Xbox Series S and the PS5.
As for whether the rumored PlayStation handheld will follow the same launch schedule as the console iteration of the PS6, the insider shared that the former’s SoC tapes out a few months after the latter’s SoC.
A few months earlier, Bloomberg had reported that Sony Interactive Entertainment is working on a console that would play PlayStation 5 games on the go. The report further mentioned that the product is aimed at expanding Sony’s reach, contending with Nintendo for the portable gaming market, and potentially countering mobile hardware from Xbox. It was also said that the company’s portable device is likely years away from launch and that the company may ultimately opt to not launch it. Digital Foundry staff members had also heard of its existence several months ago from a couple of their sources.
