PS5 Slim – Will It Ever Happen?

Console redesigns are all but an inevitability, and Sony and the PlayStation family have gone in for this on multiple occasions. The second PS3 model — known colloquially by fans as the PS3 Slim — was released in September 2009. In a press release from the time, Sony boasted that its thickness, weight and power consumption were reduced by around one-third of the original model’s.

In September 2012, another Sony press release heralded the launch of the third and final PS3 model, which came to be known as the Super Slim. “The volume and weight of the new PS3 has been reduced by more than half compared to the very first PS3 model … and by 25% and 20% respectively compared with the current PS3,” Sony stated.

The PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro, meanwhile, were both announced at the PlayStation Meeting of September 2016. Again, the “Slim” descriptor was not part of this model’s official designation, but it is considerably smaller than the original: It measures 10.4 x 11.34 inches —  compared to 11.61 x 12.87 inches — and uses around half the power at 165W.

Ultimately, the PS3 family sold over 87.4 million systems, and the PS4 line blasted past 117 million. These redesigns seemed to play their part in these sales. At 2009’s Tokyo Game Show, GameSpot reported Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kaz Hirai’s claims that one million PS3 Slims were purchased in the console’s first three weeks on sale. It would make sense for Sony to want to galvanize PS5 sales in similar fashion.