The PS5 is finally becoming a little less elusive, and if you've been lucky enough to snag one lately then you'll know that's not small. Not small at all. But while we've heard rumours for a while that a Slim PS5 could be on the way, it's yet to materialise.
What has been spotted in the wild this week is a "new" PS5 model that's a fair bit lighter than the original, albeit with the same gargantuan design. Still, at least it's a little less of a doorstop than the 2020 model. (Feeling lucky? Check out the latest PS5 restock news.)
Sony's not one to stay still when it comes to new PS5 designs, its recent Gray Camouflage Collection has met with a mixed response from fans.
(Image credit: Sony/Future owns)
Catchily dubbed the CFI-1200 model, this new PS5 is 600g lighter than the original. And this isn't first time Sony has released a slightly less heavy version of the same machine – last year we saw a new PS5 that shaved 300g off the original weight. As noted by Press Start, this means the 2022 disk model PS5 is now as light as 2020's digital model.
It isn't clear right now how Sony has managed to make the PS5 lighter, but it's likely to do with the internals. It also isn't clear if it'll have the same issue as 2021's lighter PS5, which actually ran hotter than the original. And a glance at the manual suggests that the reduced weight is the only change in specs this time around. Last year's slightly updated model added the ability to remove the PS5's stand without using a screwdriver – rejoice!
The PS5 (pictured with the Xbox Series X) is quite the beast (Image credit: Future)
We've already heard that Sony is planning a redesign of the PS5 in an attempt to get stock moving again – a shortage of semi-conductors is behind delays to the production, and Sony is keen to "find maybe a secondary resource", or speed things up by "changing the design." But it looks like once again the rumoured PS5 Slim, or indeed PS5 Pro, aren't quite on the horizon.
Still, even without massive hardware changes, the PS5 is still going from strength to strength performance-wise, with the Unreal 5 engine promising previously unreached heights of visual fidelity. Meanwhile, games like Horizon Forbidden West are sparking unexpected debates about, er, facial hair. Still, it's not all beautiful – the less said about the people in Gran Turismo 7, the better.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.
