PlayStation 6 Handheld Leaked Specs Are Impressive, But Still Worrying

It has long been rumored that the PlayStation 6 will be accompanied by a handheld capable of playing the console’s games, and while Sony hasn’t unveiled its plans for the next generation, rumors about the hardware continue to trickle in. While Xbox’s Project Helix appears to straddle the console and PC markets, PlayStation seems to be further solidifying its position while simultaneously hoping to entice some of the Nintendo Switch 2 audience with a new handheld.

Said PS6 handheld remains officially unconfirmed – and the PlayStation 6 itself hasn’t been revealed – but notable gaming hardware leaker KeplerL2 recently weighed in on a NeoGAF thread, claiming the handheld’s GPU rasterization capabilities are “a bit ahead” of the Xbox Series S’s, and that its ray tracing and path tracing potential is “massively ahead” of Microsoft’s lower-end ninth-generation console. KeplerL2 goes on to claim that the handheld’s iteration of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, which will supposedly be PSSR 3, will be more impressive than NVIDIA’s current Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 4.5.

Rumored PS6 Handheld Is Like A Series S With Better Ray Tracing

These alleged PlayStation 6 handheld specs sound impressive in the context of the current market. Such a device can’t reasonably be expected to be on par with the PS6 itself, given its form factor, but it would be quite an accomplishment if it truly does keep – or even exceed – pace with one of the ninth-generation machines. Such a disparity between the PlayStation 6 and its handheld does, however, bring up the classic dilemma that seems to be posited whenever handheld gaming is discussed: will the scope or ambition of games be compromised by catering to Sony’s handheld?

There are plenty of examples to point to. The Nintendo Switch notoriously failed to receive ports of numerous blockbuster triple-A games because it simply wasn’t powerful enough, and those titles that did make the jump routinely made drastic concessions in visual fidelity and performance compared to the PlayStation and Xbox versions. Even the Series S caused development issues. Its lower specs delayed the Xbox release of Baldur’s Gate 3, and the Series S was initially incapable of playing the game in split-screen – local co-op arrived over a year later.

But the conundrum itself is a bit of a fallacy. Lower-powered machines haven’t stopped developers from pushing the medium to its technical limits, and consumers are generally well-informed enough to know that just because they own a gaming console doesn’t mean they’ll be able to play every title available. Sony may ensure its first-party studios get their games running on the PS6 handheld, but it’s counterintuitive to think the company would undermine its top-of-the-line console’s potential to exclusively cater to a peripheral device.

Is PlayStation Actually Returning To The Handheld Market?

PlayStation has more recently dipped its toes into the handheld arena with the PlayStation Portal, but the game streaming device is a far cry from its classic PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita consoles. The PS6 handheld is supposedly capable of running games itself; i.e. unlike the Portal, it does not require an internet connection or a console to stream from. Given the leaked specs and the PlayStation 6’s presumed backward compatibility, Sony’s rumored handheld may occupy an interesting market niche.

With the blurred lines between console generations (PS4 games releasing well into the PS5 life cycle, Nintendo’s Switch family on its own timeline, etc.), the PS6 handheld could potentially run many new games admirably – but it’s also an incredibly enticing backward compatibility machine. Handheld gaming is a luxury compared to traditional, stationary console gaming, so what better way to catch up on PS5 games someone might have missed?

This is all, of course, conjecture; the rumored handheld, much less its specs, remain unconfirmed. And with the PS5 life cycle potentially extended longer than originally planned, it may be a while before its successor even materializes. The PlayStation 6 is coming, and if its handheld companion turns out to be real, it could introduce a major new strategy for Sony’s gaming division.

Brand

Sony

Original Release Date

November 19, 2020

Original MSRP (USD)

$399.99 (Digital Only), $499.99 (Disc Drive)

Weight

Digital Edition now weighs 3.4 kg & base version weighs 3.9 kg