PS6 leaks: specs, expected release date, and more

The PS6 is still years away, but leaks have already started to give us an idea of what to expect. Most recent leaks come from Moore's Law is Dead, a reliable industry tipster who has accurately predicted details of several gaming hardware releases in the past. Per the revelations, the company is potentially introducing both a home console and a handheld device simultaneously. Cost efficiency and power consumption seem to be the priority over raw performance gains.

While the information should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism, let's get up to speed with what's known about the Japanese giant's upcoming home video game console.

Note: All PS6 information remains unconfirmed and subject to change during development. Readers are advised to take the information herein with a grain of salt.

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PS6 home console specs

The PS6 is expected to improve upon the PS5 with 3x better performance (Image via Amazon)

The PlayStation 6 home console, codenamed "Orion," will likely be the replacement for the PS5 and PS5 Pro. The leaked specifications suggest an octa-core setup with next-gen AMD 3nm Zen 6 architecture (which might also power Ryzen 10,000 series chips).

For the graphics chip, leaks hint at 40-48 RDNA 5 Compute Units running at 3 GHz+ clock speeds. For some context, the RX 9070 XT bundles 64 RDNA 4 Compute Units. While gen-on-gen IPC improvements remain confirmed, we can expect the PS6 to game at native 4K comfortably.

While the raw hardware details don't sound like a massive leap, Moore's Law is Dead hints that the console will be based on an efficient 160W Total Board Power (TBP) design. The PS5 Pro draws 232W in comparison, with the vanilla 2020 edition at 180W.

The most intriguing aspect of Orion's design lies in its chiplet approach. Previous leaks have suggested that AMD has been pushing Sony to share dies with desktop products. This approach mirrors Microsoft's "Magnus" project. Unifying hardware designs across all product categories is a win-win for both repairability and manufacturing cost.

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PS6 handheld specs

Sony's rumored handheld device, codenamed "Canis," might be the company's most aggressive push into portable gaming since the PlayStation Vita. Canis has been leaked to feature a more modest four Zen 6c 3nm CPU cores, being one of the few devices powered by the American chip makers' big-LITTLE architecture. The graphics subsystem includes 12-20 RDNA 5 Compute Units running at 1.6-2GHz, which suggests a FHD gaming system.

Moore's Law is Dead suggests the memory configuration could center around a 128-bit bus system with LPDDR5X-7500+. The entire system is expected to operate within a strict 15W TBP budget, like the original Steam Deck.

Other leaked features include dual microphones, with a USB-C port that includes video output capabilities, M.2 SSD support, alongside MicroSD-based expansions, and haptic vibration tech.

Read more: PlayStation 5 Pro full specs leaked online ahead of launch

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PS6 release date speculations and launch window

PlayStation 6 handheld could be launched as a standalone console, unlike the PS Portal (Image via PlayStation)

Current leak points toward manufacturing beginning in mid-2027 for both Orion and Canis devices. This timeline suggests Sony is targeting could be a fall 2027 or early 2028 retail launch. This translates to a seven-year shelf life for the PlayStation 5, just like the PS4.

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PS6 performance expectations vs. PS5

While it's still early to draw exact performance figures for the PS6, we can speculate based on the available leaks and previous industry trends.

Orion's rasterization performance is estimated at roughly three times the PS5's capabilities, which should enable native 4K gaming at higher frame rates across most titles. More significantly, ray tracing performance improvements are expected to exceed the 3x multiplier, as AMD's tech has improved by leaps and bounds from RDNA 2-based RX 6000 GPUs to the latest RX 9000 desktop video cards.

This means games that currently struggle to maintain 60fps with ray tracing enabled on PS5 should easily hit that target on Orion, with many titles potentially reaching 120fps thresholds at native resolution.

Canis targets approximately 50% of PS5's rasterization performance, which should make it about as powerful as the RX 6600 desktop GPU. This should help the handheld comfortably outperform the ASUS ROG Ally X and similar Windows-based handhelds, though it won't approach desktop gaming performance levels.

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Although much isn't known about backwards compatibility, leaks suggest full support for PS5 and PS4 game libraries on the new consoles. Current-generation games should see automatic performance improvements on both platforms, with PS5 titles potentially receiving resolution and frame rate boosts.

Overall, the PS6 seems more about convenience and ease-of-use, unlike the ninth generation, which focused on raw rendering prowess. The ball is now in Sony's court to prove how many of these expectations materialize.

Edited by Angad Sharma