A couple of months ago we heard rumors Sony was planning to release a major revamp of the PlayStation 5 in 2023. Of course, they’ve already revised the system multiple times, reducing its weight and power consumption, amongst other changes, but this would be a bigger overhaul, featuring a new form factor with a detachable Blu-ray disc drive. This would allow Sony to simplify, offering only one base PS5 SKU (the current two models with and without a disc drive would be phased out).
Of course, we still haven’t heard anything official about this new PS5 model, but according to reliable insider Tom Henderson (the original source of these rumors), the machine is now in developers’ hands and the detachable disc drive mechanism “works flawlessly.”
“Small update on the PlayStation 5 that has a detachable disc drive - I've heard from two people now that the test kit is in people's hands and it "works flawlessly". We should hear more about it officially soon. For those asking "what's the point,” I think it's to make manufacturing cheaper by just having one console. The regular PS5 and regular digital PS5 will cease production by the end of 2023.”
Take this with a grain of salt for now, but Henderson has delivered accurate Sony hardware scoops in the past and simplifying the PS5 options would certainly make sense. Interestingly, it seems Sony has largely figured out their manufacturing issues even without a major hardware revision, as they recently won Black Friday due to increased PS5 supply. That said, I’m sure they’d love to ramp things up even more and catch up to and surpass where they were at this point in the PS4’s lifespan.
Per Henderson’s earlier rumor, the new PS5 model is set to launch around September 2023. What do you think? Does the detachable drive thing sound like a good idea? What would like from a PS5 revision?
