Sony Is Rumored to Be Working on a PlayStation 6 Handheld, and I Really Hope It’s Not True

Sony has been a mainstay in the world of gaming for over thirty years now, with the PlayStation gradually becoming one of the most successful brands in the history of the industry. That trend has continued into the present day, with the PS5 standing above the competition when it comes to raw power and broad support. With the PS6 reportedly a ways away from debuting, it seems that Sony could easily rest on their laurels.

Instead, rumors and leaks suggest the company is still hard at work on its next console — and that it could also come with a mobile option. Similar to the Nintendo Switch, this potential direction could bring PlayStation back into the mobile market. While it would be cool to see the console’s power brought into the palm of the player’s hands, I really hope these are just rumors and that Sony doesn’t lose track of just how well-positioned they are to continue dominating the gaming home market.

What We Know About The Rumored PlayStation 6 Handheld

Sony is supposedly working on a handheld version of the PlayStation 6, and I really hope that the company isn’t going that route. Rumors have been swirling for a while now that Sony is at work on a PS6 handheld, suggesting that the company is looking to return to the mobile space years after it halted production of the PSP. According to online insiders and documents leaked from Sony, the company has been at work on two PlayStation 6 devices. One will be the next formal edition of the home console, with the second being a handheld platform.

The rumors suggest that the device would wildly outclass the Switch 2 and Xbox ROG Ally X in terms of raw power, with some claiming that the PS6 Handheld, while in docked mode, would operate at three times the speed of the average Nintendo Switch 2. The leaks suggest the device would support up to 48GB of RAM and could clock 16CU RDNA iGPU at 1.20GHz while in handheld mode. It will also supposedly be better optimized than the Xbox ROG Ally X, giving it an edge over Xbox’s competitor in the handheld space.

It has also been suggested that the device could be supported by backwards compatibility, opening up the entire library of PS4 and PS5 games for the device and giving gamers a wealth of options to play. On paper, the idea of a portable PS6 sounds like an exciting prospect, especially given the current gaming environment leans more heavily into remote play and on-the-go gaming. However, there are more than a few reasons why a portable PS6 might not be the right move for the company.

Why PlayStation Doesn’t Need To Reenter The Mobile Gaming Wars

The PlayStation 5 has effectively dominated the current console race, but that’s something it could very easily lose control of. With the Switch 2 earning impressive sales, the Nintendo console has ensured its place in the current gaming market. However, the Switch 2’s ability to hop between console releases and on-the-go gaming has left it without the dedicated power of the PS5. On the other side of the equation, the recent struggles faced by the Xbox X/S have given the PS5 an opening to cement itself as the primary home console for high-end gaming. It’s a market that the PlayStation has been able to dominate across multiple generations of consoles and represents the ideal place for the brand.

The PSP was an earlier example of Sony’s struggles with breaking into a space typically dominated by Nintendo, and a mobile PS6 would likely face similar challenges. It would also be facing more than just one direct competitor, as the Steam Deck has already proven to be a profitable alternative to the Nintendo console, with a game library that might actually be able to dwarf what Sony would be able to provide. While the PS5 (and the eventual PS6) is going to face new competition from the likes of the Steam Machine, it would be playing to its strengths in a console fight — but would be on far more uneven ground if it reentered the mobile market.

That’s also a side of the industry largely dominated by mobile gaming, giving any new portable PlayStation an even more difficult rival to compete with. There’s also the simple reality that console production has become more expensive, thanks in part to tariffs and supply shortages. This is one of the reasons cited for why the PS6 is further away than anyone expects. The production of a portable PS6 would likely be expensive, and those costs are undoubtedly going to be passed down to consumers. While the PS6 will likely also be expensive, focusing entirely on the processing power and potential of a home console instead of also making it work as a handheld might reduce the cost for everyone involved.

Playing catch-up to Nintendo and Valve seems like a bad use of Sony’s resources when it could instead focus on making the ultimate home console — giving it an edge that even the Steam Machine couldn’t match. PlayStation has really cemented itself in recent years as the premier home console, and I genuinely think trying to pivot back into handheld spaces is the wrong direction for Sony to take. While a portable PS6 would be undoubtedly impressive and could become a major hit, it carries a lot of risks that neither PlayStation players nor makers need to take on.