PS5 prospective customers may have to be quick to pre-order Sony's next-generation console whenever that will be possible, lest they remain without a unit for quite some time.
A new report published this morning by Bloomberg suggests PS5 consoles availability will be far more limited at launch than previous PlayStation console debuts. Contrarily to what you could have guessed, though, it is not because of supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the sources cited by Bloomberg, the production capacity for the PS5 hasn't been affected by the pandemic, while the promotional plans have. However, the decision to limit production to about 5 to 6 million console units by March 2021 is rather due to the PS5's high price, which may sit between $499 and $549. Sony has apparently struggled with increased component prices. There's also a chance both the PS5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series X will end up being priced $450, according to Macquarie Capital analyst Damien Thong, though that would mean both companies selling at a loss (which wouldn't be a first in the console business, by the way).
The report also mentions that Sony still very much plans to release the PlayStation 5 console in Holiday 2020, at least as long as Microsoft does the same with its Xbox Series X.
For more on the PS5, check our roundup info article. Below we've added the system specifications as they were revealed by system architect Mark Cerny.
| PS5 Specs | |
| CPU (Zen 2) | 8 Cores @ 3.5GHz (variable frequency) |
| GPU (custom RDNA 2) | 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 Compute Units @ 2.23GHz (variable frequency) with hardware raytracing support |
| System Memory/Interface | 16GB GDDR6/256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 448GB/s |
| Internal Storage | Custom 825GB SSD |
| I/O Throughput | 5.5GB/s (Raw), 8-9GB/s (Compressed with Kraken) |
| Expandable Storage | NVMe SSD Slot supporting M.1 or M.2 |
| External Storage | USB HDD Support (for PS4 games) |
| Optical Drive | 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive (up to 100GB disc) |
| Audio | Custom 'Tempest' 3D Audio Engine, supporting hundreds of simultaneous sources |
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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