HANDHELD NEWS – Rumors suggest that Sony is preparing not only a next-generation home console but also a handheld console, neither of which will be affordable.

According to the well-known AMD leaker Kepler_L2, Sony’s handheld will be more expensive than expected.On the NeoGAF forum, Kepler_L2 stated that it is currently impossible for Sony to keep the price of the handheld under $600 due to the ongoing global memory crisis.Rumors about the device have been circulating for some time, but little is known about its actual hardware.However, strong rumors are circulating about an APU called Canis, which features Zen 6 LP cores and LPDDR5X memory.The latter poses a problem, as the price of LPDDR memory is skyrocketing due to unprecedentedly high demand from data centers—driven, of course, by the AI boom.The handheld is reportedly Sony’s “more affordable” option compared to the PlayStation 6 home console, which is rumored to cost over $1,000.Kepler_L2 previously leaked that the PlayStation 6’s bill of materials costs $960, making an affordable PlayStation 6 difficult to imagine.The same problem now affects the handheld, posing a pricing challenge for Sony.Of course, none of this comes as a surprise. Gaming hardware has been affected by rising memory costs all year. Recently, we’ve seen several GPU price hikes from both AMD and Nvidia due to rising GDDR prices. The price of the Steam Machine far exceeded its original target price of around $750, and all of these issues have the same underlying cause.

In another post, the leaker mentioned that the PlayStation 6 will likely not be affected by the continued rise in GDDR prices. Sony’s CFO recently confirmed that the company has secured its memory supply for the year. AMD, on the other hand, typically purchases memory on a quarterly basis, so the company may still face further price increases. Of course, Sony has not confirmed any of this. However, rumors have been circulating for some time, all pointing in the same direction. If component costs continue to rise at this rate, it will be difficult for Sony to launch the handheld at a competitive price.

Furthermore, if the handheld costs close to $800 and the PlayStation 6 costs around $1,000, it will be difficult to justify the purchase of the handheld, especially given the current market for handheld PCs.

Source:Tech4gamers,NeoGAF