Silent_Buddha
Legend
Previous slims PlayStations have generally been achieved through some considerable reengineering of the fundamental design. That's not completely off the cards, PlayStation 5 is currently on a 6nm process, maybe they are moving to 5nm, and reducing the PSU draw, and cooling demand. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Making the Blu-ray drive an optional external purchase also helps.
Unfortunately 5 nm still commands a significant premium (about 30%) over 7 nm (6 nm is a slight tweak of 7 nm so is similar in cost). And that's not forecast to change (projections for 2025 TSMC pricing reflects that). And it only gets more dire as you move down. 3 nm commands a 50% premium over 5 nm. It's going to be interesting to see what Sony and MS end up doing to try to keep costs reasonable for the next generation of consoles.
Unlike previous generations there's little to no cost savings for going down to a smaller node. Although if it allows them to ditch the liquid metal cooling that might bring some savings.
It kind of makes me wonder if we'll see a slim released for the same price as the outgoing launch design.
Regards,
SB