With the SonyPS5 Pro now on the market since 7 November, the rumour mill is inevitably turning to what will come next: presumably, the PlayStation 6. It will undoubtedly be a long time still before we know anything for sure about the PS6, but that’s not stopped a lot of speculation and some tidbits of possible information from filtering through.
From possible specs to price and release date, below I’ll round up all the main PS6 rumours so far. As ever, take all of this with a grain of salt since this is a console that’s still a long way off. In the meantime, check out the best Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals.
PS6 rumours: everything we’ve heard about PlayStation 6 so far
PS6 design
The Sony PS5 Pro (Image credit: Sony)
We’ll be interested to see what Sony does with the PlayStation 6 design. The PS5 was much mocked for looking like a household appliance, and the PS5 Pro did little to shake off that association.
One rumour suggests that there will again be two variants of the console. A leaker called Kepler, who has form on gaming hardware rumours wrote on the gaming forum Neogaf that the two separate system on chips (SoCs) are in development.
PS6 specs
PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary edition (Image credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment)
While it’s two early for any reliable rumours on detailed specs, one credible rumour about the PlayStation 6 is that AMD will again be making the chips for the console. Reuters reported in September 2024 that Sony had considered switching to Intel but decided in 2022 to stick with AMD to ensure backwards compatibility.
A member of the Chiphell Forum, zhangzhonghao, has claimed that AMD will power the PS6 with its upcoming UDNA architecture, combining CDNA (Instinct) designed for data centers and RDNA (Radeon) gaming tech. Zhangzhonghao says Sony is still choosing between a Zen 4 or Zen 5 CPU.
PS6 price
Anyone considering the PS5 Pro is likely to have been taken aback by the price, which starts at $699.99 / £699.99 for the base model with no disc drive or stand. That makes the PS5 Pro the most expensive PlayStation so far by some way. For comparison, the digital edition of the PS5 started at $399 / £359 / €399. When the PS4 Pro was released back in 2016, it was priced at $399 / £349.
It seems higher prices may be the new norm, so we’re not very hopeful that the PS6 will be cheaper. Speaking with GamesBeat, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella suggested that “higher pricing will likely have to be part of the equation” for PS6. Midia Research’s Rhys Elliot suggested that “PlayStation is clearly testing the waters with its PS5 Pro pricing”. So the PS6 price may ultimately depend on the extent to which people accept the price of the PS5 Pro.
When will the Sony Playstation 6 be released?
The PS6 release date is likely to be several years away. Based on Sony’s previous release cycles, we expect seven years between models. The PS4 was released in 2013 and the PS5 in 2020. That would suggest a possible 2027 release date, but the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 held up the roll out of the PS5. The PS5 Pro was only released in 2024, four years after the original PS5. That compares to a space of three years between the PS4 and PS4 Pro.
The year most being talked about at the moment is 2028. That’s based on court documents relating to Microsoft’s bid to acquire Blizzard Activision. Microsoft suggested that 2028 was the “expected starting point” for next-gen consoles, which would presumably include the PS6 and the follow up to the Xbox Series X.
