Sony PlayStation 4.5 Confirmed as PlayStation 4K by New Report
A new report has independently confirmed the existence of Sony PlayStation 4.5, which it dubs as "PlayStation 4K." The latest report also takes a look at three possible ways it believes Sony could follow to move forward with a mid-generation refresh for its PlayStation console.
"We have independently established that it's real and that Sony's R&D labs have prototype devices, and we also have more than one source referring to it as PlayStation 4K, the name we'll be using for now," gaming site Eurogamer published in a new report on Thursday.
The new report is a technical analysis from business and consulting firm Digital Foundry. It takes a look at the technology that could potentially fuel such an upgrade. Zooming in on Sony's manufacturer of CPU and GPU AMD, the report lists three possible routes for the speculated PS 4.5 or PS 4K.
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The Successor
The first path visualizes a new and more powerful console that could take the place of the PS4. Digital Foundry expects the new console to feature double the graphical processing power of the current-generation console.
The Upgrade
Another route Sony could take would be to release an upgraded console sporting visual improvements and would represent a "decent bump" in system capabilities without compatibility issues. Digital Foundry believes this is most probably what the current prototypes are like.
The Hardware Tweak
The third route could be for Sony to release a "PS4 Slim" which features 4K and high dynamic range (HDR) compatibility. Digital Foundry believes this smaller, leaner console version will be more of an "Elite" version of the PS4, something that's nice to have but doesn't possess any significant processing power upgrade.
A previous report from Kotaku started the rumor of a possible PlayStation hardware upgrade. That report came after the Game Developers Conference 2016 where the publication was able to talk with multiple sources, including video game developers "who have spoken with Sony." The publication described the rumored PS 4.5 as having enhanced processing power and support for 4K resolution and PlayStation VR.
