We have confirmation that Sony has made significant changes to the PlayStation 5’s design. However, you won’t be seeing any of those changes on the surface.
YouTuber Austin Evans did a teardown of a new model and confirmed specific changes to its internals. Specifically, this was a CFI-1200 model that was released in Australia.
For starters, the console now has a completely different motherboard. In particular, it’s now conspicuously smaller compared to earlier models.
That motherboard is now attached to a smaller heatsink, but it also how has a heat pipe that goes all the way to the other side of the system. The SSD enclosure also now has a different heat shield.
Among those changes is one drawback. Once again, the console’s CMOS battery has been moved to a position where it would be harder to access and replace.
However, overall these changes have led to a significant change, as this standard model of the console is now as light as the original release of the digital model. In fact, we had previously reported that a newer version of the PlayStation 5 digital model was lighter compared to earlier releases of the same model.
While it would make sense that Sony simply wants to improve the newer builds for their PlayStation 5 console, there may be another reason for the change. From as far back as the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, Sony and Microsoft had noted that chip supply issues worldwide would affect their ability to manufacture their consoles, and so they would not be able to make enough to meet supply. The situation had extended to the point that Sony announced they would be dropping supply targets.
So Sony may now be cutting as many corners as they can to make manufacturing of their latest games console simpler, easier, and with fewer components. While it may not necessarily help them with chip supply issues, Sony may simply be trying to accelerate the process of their consoles becoming profitable with every sale, by making each console cheaper to manufacture at a more rapid pace.
Unfortunately for Sony, they have needed to shift gears on their gaming strategy in general with the continued issues with making enough PlayStation 5 consoles manufactured to meet demand. For example, they have pushed hard on the new PlayStation PC initiative to publish their games on a more open platform.
As another sideline, Sony has launched a new gaming-focused monitors and headsets business, for use on gaming PCs and with Playstation consoles.
Going back to the PlayStation 5 console itself, unfortunately, Sony will be raising its price in several regions. Notably, that doesn’t include America itself, which does comprise the biggest market for consoles, and may reflect significantly raised costs to bring the console to those other regions.
Source: VideoGameChronicle
