As Sony tries to address shortages in the production of its immensely popular Playstation 5 console, a design overhaul could be on the way. Its hardware team has been reported to be working on this new model that would feature a new processor from AMD.
New 6-nm AMD Chip to Power Redesigned Playstation 5
According to leaks supplied on PC Magazine, the redesigned PS5 could carry more power, thanks to a new AMD Zen 2 chip that was made using a six-nanometer (6nm) process, as against the current 7nm, which potentially would make it more powerful.
This 6nm node would provide up to 18-percent density improvement than the current 7nm node currently running in PS5 consoles. No claimed enhancement, however, was reported for clock speed or power consumption.
A small single-digit improvement in performance depending on the silicon characteristics, but console manufacturers, such as Sony, that use die shrinks for this kind of improvement would go extra lengths j just to guarantee that the experience is as identical as possible.
Production of Redesigned Playstation 5 in 2022, Says Report
As DigiTimes quoted sources as saying that production of the new refurbished PS5 will start by next year. It also revealed the new redesigned console would be unveiled by the second or third quarter of 2022.
Such console redesigns are normal, and provide the opportunity for improvements and address bugs, and likewise lead to lesser manufacturing costs. Sony has done the same for its previous Playstation consoles although it has come much earlier for the PS5, thanks to the semiconductor shortage, as per reports.
In addition, bottlenecks in other wafer production areas, such as display drivers and Wi-Fi chips have emerged. As such wafer yields continue to slow down Sony's PS5 production line, enhancing it with smaller chips could help.
Playstation 5 Redesign Largely Due to Cost Reduction
But observers see the use of a new system on a chip (SoC) is largely due to cost reduction. According to ExtremeTech, analysts suggested that only the full-fat version of the PS5 just breaks even at sale. The PS5 Digital Edition, it said, may currently be sold below cost. This would definitely lead to Sony's moves for a redesign, with a slight reduction in the die size would allow them to build more dies per wafer.
However, Sony admitted that the design overhaul was necessary to meet the PS5 demand. The electronics giant's chief financial officer, Hiroki Toroki confirmed that in order to fulfill its sales objectives, the company would find a secondary resource (for semiconductors) or change the design. Though the redesign would cover the internal structure of the console, Sony might even consider changing the external look of the console, at least repainting it perhaps, after it received criticism online saying the gaming monster looked like a Wi-Fi router.
