While Sony announced a price increase for the PS5 recently to absorb the additional logistical and production costs, the brand is secretly preparing a new console model to come in 2023.
A PS5 with optional disc drive
According to Tom Henderson’s sources in an article published on Insider Gaming, Sony is preparing a new PS5 for next year. This new console will completely replace the A, B and C chassis that have been in production since the console was launched.
This D-frame PS5 would have almost the same hardware features as the current PS5, but would have a major novelty: a detachable disc drive connected to the console via a USB-C port on the back of the console.
According to the same sources, this PS5 would be sold in different packs, with or without this disc drive. Also note that this player could also be sold separately for, one imagines, the public who bought a version of the PS5 without a disc, and who ultimately wish to make the opposite choice.
According to these sources, Sony would have planned to produce 18.5 million units of the new PS5 in the D frame, against 12 million of the models that we already know.
In a context of tension around high-tech products and faced with an increase in raw materials, Sony certainly wants to simplify its production chain by rationing costs around a single machine which would therefore have an option. The console would then cost much less to produce, and the separately manufactured disc player could also be of interest to those who have been equipped with a PS5 Digital for two years.
This is an interesting proposition and we will see in the future if the PlayStation 6 could adopt the same strategy. We remember Microsoft which sold the Xbox 360 with an optional HD-DVD drive, and it’s a safe bet that the American company has already studied the question of releasing an Xbox Series X without a disc drive. What is certain is that Xbox is preparing many other consoles, but it is impossible to say today if a new model will land in 2023, as seems to be the case with PlayStation.