Sony's Rumored PS6 Handheld Could Outpower the PS5 and Challenge Switch 2 in 2027

Reports indicate that Sony’s next generation of hardware may expand beyond a traditional home console. According to Moore’s Law Is Dead and documents allegedly linked to AMD, Sony is developing a dockable handheld device for the PlayStation 6 generation. Internally referred to as “Canis,” the handheld is designed to operate both as a portable console and as a system that can connect to a television, similar to Nintendo’s Switch and Switch 2.

Leaked specifications describe a 3nm AMD accelerated processing unit with four Zen 6c CPU cores for gaming tasks and two Zen 6 low-power cores for system processes. The graphics component reportedly contains 16 compute units built on AMD’s RDNA 5 architecture. RDNA 5 is projected to deliver 5 to 10 percent more performance than RDNA 4, and each compute unit is expected to perform about 60 percent faster than those in RDNA 2, the architecture used in the PlayStation 5.

Additional details suggest the handheld may support a 192-bit memory bus with up to 48GB of LPDDR5X RAM. Features listed in the leaks include a microSD slot, an M.2 SSD slot, haptic feedback, a touchscreen, and dual microphones — all of which efficiently support everything from fast-paced shooters to casual games. The handheld is said to run at 1080p resolution in portable mode, with chip speeds of 1.2 GHz, and reach 1.65 GHz when docked. In docked mode, the device could surpass the performance of a base PlayStation 5 in optimized titles, while non-optimized games may run at slightly lower levels.

Performance improvements are also expected from AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 4. Different from earlier versions, FSR 4 is hardware-specific and produces cleaner visuals with fewer artifacts. Reports state that its results are close to Nvidia’s DLSS 4, allowing the handheld to upscale games efficiently while preserving frame rates.

Pricing for the Canis handheld is estimated between $399 and $499. For comparison, Nintendo’s Switch 2 launched at $449.99 in the United States and, according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, has sold 2 million units in the country since release. Leaks also suggest Sony may introduce multiple devices as part of the PS6 generation: the Canis handheld, a lower-cost console positioned against Microsoft’s Xbox Series S, and a higher-end model known internally as “Orion.”

Backward compatibility is expected to extend to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 titles. PlayStation 3 compatibility has not been mentioned, consistent with the challenges posed by that system’s architecture.

The release window for the new hardware is projected for Fall 2027, with manufacturing planned to begin in mid-2027. Moore’s Law Is Dead, who accurately reported PlayStation 5 pricing and specifications before its 2020 launch, has cited AMD documentation supporting these details. Bloomberg also reported in November 2024 that Sony was in the early stages of developing a handheld capable of running PlayStation 5 games natively, while Digital Foundry suggested that a prototype may have already been produced.

Sony’s history with handheld gaming includes the PlayStation Portable, released in 2004, and the PlayStation Vita in 2011. In 2023, the company launched the PlayStation Portal, a device designed exclusively for remote play from a PlayStation 5. Unlike the Portal, the rumored Canis handheld is described as able to run games natively without depending on another console.

Sony has not confirmed any information regarding the PlayStation 6 or its handheld device. The reported specifications, features, and prices remain unverified. If accurate, the introduction of a dockable handheld in 2027 would be Sony’s return to the hybrid gaming market more than a decade after the release of Nintendo’s original Switch, with hardware expected to deliver higher performance levels.

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