The PS6 might only be a few years away (YouTube)
Details around Sony’s next gen PS6 console have already started to leak, as more signs point towards a PlayStation 6 handheld.
The PS5 Pro may have only just launched, but the rumour mill has already started to spin for Sony’s PlayStation 6.
Sony itself has teased its next generation plans in interviews, suggesting it will offer more than graphical improvements, but it’s unclear when the company is planning to launch the console – with speculation pointing to 2026 or 2027.
That release window may well be accurate, based on a new rumour concerning the system’s architecture, which also supports claims that Sony is working on a new PlayStation handheld.
According to hardware leaker zhangzhonghao, who is a reputable insider on Chinese forum Chiphell, the PlayStation 6 console will use AMD’s next gen UDNA architecture.
This GPU is the successor to AMD’s RDNA 4 and AMD’s CDNA, as it looks to combine the two architectures. The PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro both utilise RDNA 2, while the latter uses some elements of RDNA 4 for enhanced ray-tracing.
The leaker claims the AMD Radeon RX 9000 series will also use the UDNA GPU, along with the MI400, with the graphics cards expected to enter mass production in the second half of 2026. That suggests the earliest release date of the PlayStation 6 would be late 2026.
According to the leaker, it’s not yet been determined whether the console’s CPU will be AMD’s Zen 4 or Zen 5.
The PlayStation Portal has been an unexpected hit (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Interestingly, after previous rumours suggested the PlayStation 6 will be two models – one a traditional console and the other a handheld – zhangzhonghao suggests that the next gen portable will also use AMD hardware.
AMD’s involvement isn’t surprising as the company has powered Sony’s consoles since the PlayStation 4, but it’s further evidence to suggest a handheld console is in the works. It’s still unclear, however, whether a new handheld will be a remote player like the PlayStation Portal, or a separate console like the PS Vita.
The same leaker also claims Microsoft’s planned handheld device will either use AMD or Qualcomm, but there are no details yet around the specs or performance.
In September, a report claimed Sony chose AMD over Intel to power the PlayStation 6 due to profit margins, and to avoid issues with backwards compatibility.
While Sony hasn’t confirmed anything about the PlayStation 6, or whether a handheld console even exists, this further bolsters the idea that we could be in the next generation sooner than we expect – at a time when many players still haven’t jumped to the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.
The PS5 Pro launched earlier this month (YouTube)
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