If Sony launches the console at a subsidized price in a year and a half, it may not be available at the expected premium price.

Due to the recent price increases for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro, the PlayStation 6 is expected to be significantly more expensive than anticipated and could approach the $1,000 mark. However, according to the well-known AMD leaker Kepler_L2, a $700 price tag is still possible for the console, even though the estimated total cost of parts exceeds $750, provided that Sony does everything possible to keep the price low.

He estimates that the current material cost of the PlayStation 6 is around $760 and believes that, with reasonable subsidies, a $700 price is possible. However, a reasonable subsidy is far from guaranteed with next-gen consoles. The question is whether Sony is concerned about this now that the Xbox is no longer a direct competitor. Since the likely more expensive Xbox Project Helix targets a different market, this is a valid question.

When asked about the PlayStation 6‘s estimated bill of materials, Kepler_L2 confirmed that it includes a 1 TB Gen5 NVMe SSD but not a Blu-ray drive. While an optical drive wouldn’t significantly increase costs, a larger SSD certainly would, given current prices. The significant price increase for the PlayStation 5 Pro is likely due to the 2 TB SSD.

Although the PlayStation 5 faced difficult market conditions amid the pandemic and component shortages when it launched, the situation appears to be even worse for the PlayStation 6. The system’s expected high price, driven by the high costs of SSDs and RAM, and general economic uncertainty will also determine the system’s success. However, this is unlikely to delay the release beyond early 2028, as that would be more expensive than paying the premium.

Source: WCCFTech, NeoGAF, NeoGAF