Reliable hardware insider KeplerL2 has shared the expected manufacturing cost and retail price of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s next-gen console, the PS6.
Known hardware insider KeplerL2 took to the gaming enthusiast NeoGAF forums to respond to a question regarding the possibility of Sony Interactive Entertainment delaying the PS6 by two years, and whether it would have to pay AMD for the R&D and wafer starts it reserved. In response, they said that AMD could theoretically take the 3nm wafer capacity and use it in other products, but they aren’t sure whether the demand is high enough since most of their flagship data center components are based on 2nm fabrication. As such, in such scenario, they believe it would likely result in the console maker paying a penalty, and wafer prices for a 2028/2029 launch would be even higher.
According to the insider, the only reason for a PS6 delay would be hoping for a RAM/NAND price collapse, though they added that no one knows “if/when/by how much prices will come down.” As such, they believe a delay is a bit of a gamble, and the safe strategy is actually to launch the next-gen console in Holiday 2027 as originally planned.
KeplerL2 was subsequently asked about the manufacturing cost and retail price of the PS6 in Holiday 2027, in the event that there isn’t a RAM/NAND price collapse. The insider replied by saying that their current Bill of Materials (BOM) estimate for the next-gen console is around 760 US Dollars, so a retail price of 699 US Dollars is still possible with a reasonable subsidy. However, they added that the question is if Sony Interactive Entertainment will “even bother now that Xbox is not direct competition anymore.”
Meanwhile, in response to a fellow member who wondered whether the recent PS5 price hike was due to the increasing price of RAM, the insider mentioned that it was indeed one the contributing factors. According to them, Sony Interactive Entertainment raised PS5 prices due to costlier RAM and NAND and also AMD raising prices due to increased demand for its CPUs and GPUs for AI data centers and not wanting the semi-custom business to drag its profit margins down.
