Sony Confirms PS5 Slim for This Holiday Season

Sony has confirmed the heavily rumoured PlayStation 5 slim, which is due out for this holiday season.

The smaller PS5 design comes with 1TB storage for the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition, up from 825GB in the original versions of the console, and the new model provides the option to add an Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive to PS5 Digital Edition.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Sid Shuman, Senior Director, SIE Content Communications, said Sony created this new PS5 "to address the evolving needs of players".

"Our engineering and design teams collaborated on a new form factor that provides greater choice and flexibility," Shuman said. "The same technology features that make PS5 the best to play are packed into a smaller form factor, along with an attachable Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive and a 1TB SSD for more internal storage."

The new PS5 has been reduced in volume by more than 30%, and weight by 18% and 24% compared to the previous models, Sony said. There are four separate cover panels, with the top portion in a glossy look, while the bottom remains in matte. If you buy the PS5 Digital Edition, you can add the Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive for PS5 later, as it will also be sold separately for $79.99 | €119.99 | £99.99 | 11,980 JPY.

The new PS5 model will be available starting this November in the U.S. at select local retailers and direct.playstation.com where available, Sony added. It will continue to roll out globally in the months that follow. Once inventory of the current PS5 model has sold out, the new PS5 will become the only model available.

Here are the recommended retail prices for the new PS5 model, beginning with the rollout in November at participating retailers:

• U.S.
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – $499.99
  • PS5 Digital Edition – $449.99
• Europe
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – 549.99 EUR
  • PS5 Digital Edition – 449.99 EUR
• UK
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – £479.99
  • PS5 Digital Edition – £389.99
• Japan
  • PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – 66,980 JPY (includes tax)
  • PS5 Digital Edition – 59,980 JPY (includes tax)

It's worth noting the PS5 Digital model has gone up in price with the introduction of the slim version. The original PS5 Digital Edition costs $399.99, whereas this slimmer PS5 Digital Edition costs $449.99. This means the slimmer PS5 with a disc drive costs $50 more than the slimmer PS5 Digital Edition.

A horizontal stand is included with the new PS5 model. A new vertical stand compatible with all PS5 models will be sold separately at $29.99 | €29.99 | £24.99 | 3,980 JPY.

And here are the specifications for the new PS5 models:

PlayStation 5 specifications

• External dimensions (excluding projecting parts): Approx. 358 × 96 × 216 mm (width × height × depth)
• Mass: Approx. 3.2 kg
• CPU: x86-64-AMD Ryzen “Zen 2”, 8 Cores / 16 Threads, Variable frequency, up to 3.5 GHz
• GPU: AMD Radeon RDNA 2-based graphics engine, Ray Tracing Acceleration, Variable frequency, up to 2.23 GHz (10.3 TFLOPS)
• System Memory: GDDR6 16GB, 448GB/s Bandwidth
• SSD: 1TB, 5.5GB/s Read Bandwidth (Raw)
• PS5 Game Disc: Ultra HD Blu-ray, up to 100GB/disc
• BD/DVD drive: Disc Drive portequipped with Disc Drive
• Video Out: Support of 4K 120Hz TVs, 8K TVs, VRR (specified by HDMI ver.2.1)
• Audio: “Tempest” 3D AudioTech
• Input/Output Front of Console: USB Type-C port (Super-Speed USB 10Gbps), USB Type-C port (Hi-Speed USB)
• Input/Output Back of Console: USB Type-A port (Super-Speed USB 10Gbps) x2
• Networking: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T), Wi-fi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax

PlayStation 5 Digital Edition Specifications

• External dimensions (excluding projecting parts): Approx. 358 × 80 × 216 mm (width × height × depth)
• Mass: Approx. 2.6 kg
• CPU: x86-64-AMD Ryzen “Zen 2”, 8 Cores / 16 Threads, Variable frequency, up to 3.5 GHz
• GPU: AMD Radeon RDNA 2-based graphics engine, Ray Tracing Acceleration, Variable frequency, up to 2.23 GHz (10.3 TFLOPS)
• System Memory: GDDR6 16GB, 448GB/s Bandwidth
• SSD: 1TB, 5.5GB/s Read Bandwidth (Raw)
• PS5 Game Disc: Ultra HD Blu-ray, up to 100GB/disc
• BD/DVD drive: Disc Drive port
• Video Out: Support of 4K 120Hz TVs, 8K TVs, VRR (specified by HDMI ver.2.1)
• Audio“Tempest” 3D AudioTech
• Input/Output Front of Console: USB Type-C port (Super-Speed USB 10Gbps), USB Type-C port (Hi-Speed USB)
• Input/Output Back of Console: USB Type-A port (Super-Speed USB 10Gbps) x2
• Networking: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T), Wi-fi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax

Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners, tweeted to say "this is more indicative of Sony's current thinking around its approach for next gen". "If the new Digital Edition does gain traction and we see a continued trajectory of increased digital software sell through, then I wouldn't be surprised if Sony makes digital + disc drive add on the default option for next gen."

Piers Harding-Rolls, games industry analyst at Ampere, added: "With the ability to upgrade the new Digital Edition of the PS5, Ampere expects there to be a larger share of total sales for this version versus the previous. Ampere data shows that the share of sell-through for the Digital Edition up to the end of June 2023 was only 16%. More gamers buying into the digital edition of the console will drive more sales of digital games through the PlayStation storefront. This will drive more storefront revenue for Sony and support its profit margin objectives."

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.