PS6 May Sacrifice Power to Offset Delay, Xbox Could Triumph in Next-Gen

A new rumour has suggested that the PlayStation 6 may sacrifice additional power in order to not be hit with a delay.

It’s a rough time in the tech industry right now, especially if you’re a gamer looking to upgrade their PC or home console.

As a result of the global memory shortage hitting basically all consumer and enterprise markets (thanks, AI), it’s pretty difficult to buy RAM right now. Or at least, it’s difficult to buy at a reasonable price.

It’s also bringing potential price hikes for platforms like Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2, and I know I’m definitely feeling it as someone looking to upgrade my PC RAM to 32 GB.

The shortage appears to have potentially hit upcoming and next-gen consoles as well. Valve has avoided announcing a price or release date for the Steam Machine despite still apparently being on track for the first half of 2026.

Sony

The Next-Gen PlayStation System May Be Intentionally Scaled Down In Order To Hit Release Window

It also looks like the PS6 may also be affected by this, with analysts and insiders reporting that the next-gen PlayStation system could nerf some of its innards in order to meet the rumoured 2027 release window.

A post on Neogaf by AMD leaker KeplerL2 claims that the PS6 won’t use full RDNA 5 GPU architecture, saying that it “isn't full RDNA5 either”.

In simple terms, RDNA 5 is the latest advancement in AMD’s GPU range, with the current-gen PS5 using RDNA 1 to power its ray tracing.

With KeplerL2 claiming the PS6 isn’t fully RDNA 5, it’s still a little unclear what kind of specs the actual console will still land on. Most likely, Sony is still figuring that out with the prices being as shaky as they are right now.

It’s going to be a while before memory prices come back down again, and certainly not by 2027, so Sony may have to compromise on scaling back the power of the PS6 if it wants to release the console in that year.

This could also put it at a disadvantage against Xbox, which is already allegedly aiming for a PC-like structure in the next generation.

If not, we could be looking at a delay into 2028 or 2029 when the prices could stabilise a little.

Not ideal for Sony, though I feel like the power of current-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are still doing just fine for now, so I'm in no rush to get my hands on a next-gen system.