Waiting for the PS6 makes no sense for one simple reason: Sony has confirmed absolutely nothing about its next console. No date, no price, not a single spec. If you put off buying today, you aren’t pushing it back six months to a known launch date; you’re pushing it back indefinitely. You can still make a decision, just on different grounds: how long Sony kept the older console alive in past generations after its successor came out.
What Sony has actually said about the next console
Here is what can be documented. Since December 2024, Sony and AMD have been working together on Project Amethyst, a joint effort to develop graphics technologies for future PlayStation hardware. In October 2025, the two companies released a joint video about it with Mark Cerny, PlayStation’s lead architect, and Jack Huynh of AMD. It named three technologies: Neural Arrays, clusters of compute units linked so they work as a single AI engine for better neural rendering and upscaling; Radiance Cores, new hardware blocks for faster ray and path tracing; and Universal Compression, real-time compression of graphics data to reduce memory bandwidth requirements.
Cerny himself adds, though, that for now they “exist only in simulations”. None of them is confirmed as finished hardware for a specific console. On top of that, Sony has still never used the name “PlayStation 6” as an official product name; it talks about a new console or a next-generation platform.
The firmest statement came on 8 May 2026 at the earnings briefing for fiscal year 2025. Sony’s Hiroki Totoki said, word for word: “We have not yet decided on at what timing we will launch the new console, or at what prices.” In other words, neither the when nor the how much has been decided. He cited memory shortages and DRAM prices as the reason and added that the company is also considering a change to its business model. What is only speculation about the launch date so far, and why the numbers differ from one article to the next, is covered in the piece on what is known about the PS6 and what isn’t.
| Next PlayStation console detail | Status as of 11 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Collaboration with AMD on graphics technologies | confirmed by both companies as Project Amethyst |
| Neural Arrays, Radiance Cores, Universal Compression | they exist, but according to Cerny only in simulations so far |
| Official name “PlayStation 6” | Sony has never used it |
| Release date | undecided, according to Sony itself |
| Price | undecided, according to Sony itself |
| CPU, GPU, memory, storage | Sony has published nothing |
Anything more specific you come across comes from leaks and analyst estimates, not from Sony or AMD. That also applies to the release years floating around online and to the alleged delay caused by memory shortages. Sony has only confirmed the price pressure on memory, not a specific year. It is the same on the other side of the market: for Microsoft, only a multi-year chip partnership with AMD is documented, as the overview of what is known about the new Xbox sums up.
How long the previous console lived after its successor launched
This is the only part of the decision where you can rely on hard data. A PlayStation generation change has never been a single day when one console dies and the other is born.
| Generation | Successor release | End of production or shipments of the predecessor | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS2 and PS3 | PS3: November 2006 | PS2: production ended worldwide around 1 January 2013 | roughly 6 years |
| PS3 and PS4 | PS4: November 2013 | PS3: shipments in Japan ended 29 May 2017 | roughly 3.5 years |
| PS4 and PS5 | PS5: November 2020 | PS4: still receiving system updates in September 2026 | over 5 years and counting |
Here is where the PS4 stands today: in 2026 it received, among others, system versions 13.50 in March and 13.52 in June, mostly security updates. At the same time, Sony is visibly winding it down. Since January 2026, in Sony’s own words, PS4 games are added to PS Plus “only irregularly”, and Sony is blocking new titles from accessing some older PSN features. Whether that is still enough to justify buying the cheaper previous-generation console is covered in the article on whether the PS4 still makes sense today.
What Sony says openly about the PS5 leads to the same conclusion. Hideaki Nishino of Sony Interactive Entertainment has repeatedly talked about a ten-year life cycle for the generation and said the PS5 will remain available even after its successor launches. CFO Lin Tao stated in 2026 that the PS5 is only halfway through its journey.
You’re buying now, not in three years
The practical impact is simple. Even if the new console came out sooner than anyone expects, PS5 games would not stop coming out and the console would not stop working. In the last two generations, Sony kept selling the predecessor for three and a half to six years after its successor launched.
There is one more argument against waiting. People usually justify waiting by saying hardware gets cheaper over time, but the last price move went the other way: Sony raised its prices effective 2 April 2026 and cited economic pressures as the reason. Totoki mentions the same memory problem in connection with the next console. What makes up the price of a console already on the market and what else you have to budget on top is covered in the piece on how much the PS5 costs and what’s included.
What you get with today’s PS5 Pro, on the other hand, is described in detail: 67% more GPU compute units than the PS5, 28% faster memory, up to 45% faster rendering, two to three times faster ray tracing, PSSR AI upscaling and a 2TB drive. Whether you will even see it on your TV is a different question, answered by the PS5 vs PS5 Pro comparison. If you are only choosing between versions of the base console, the overview of which PS5 edition to buy is more practical.
When waiting makes sense and when it doesn’t
Buy now:
- If you want to play and have nothing to play on. You can’t plan around an undefined date, and you won’t get a year without gaming back.
- If you have a 4K TV with 120 Hz and VRR. Then you will get use out of the PS5 Pro for as long as the generation runs, and Sony itself talks about ten years.
- If you’re moving from a PS4. Accounts, saves and a large part of your library can be transferred; the process is described in the guide to transferring games and data from PS4 to PS5.
Wait or buy a cheaper version:
- If your current console is enough for you. Waiting costs you nothing here, because you are not putting anything off, you just keep playing.
- If you mostly play from a subscription library. The difference between the Pro and the base console covers years of subscription, as you can see from the overview of PS Plus tiers.
- If the budget doesn’t work at all. You can get around the hardware with streaming; the basics are in the article on how cloud gaming works.
- If you haven’t even decided between platforms. Then sort out the choice between PS5 and Xbox Series X first, before a generation change that has no date.
FAQ
Sony has never announced a date. On the contrary, in May 2026 it explicitly said it has not decided when it will launch the new console or at what price. All the specific dates circulating online come from leaks and analyst estimates, not from Sony.
Nothing verifiable is coming. In the last two generations, Sony kept the older console on sale for three and a half to six years after its successor launched, and Sony itself talks about a ten-year cycle for the PS5. If you have a 4K TV that shows the difference, there is nothing to wait for.
Going by history, no, and certainly not right away. The PS4 is still getting system updates in 2026, six years after the PS5 launched. Sony winds down support for the previous console gradually, not all at once, and for the PS5 it currently talks about a ten-year generation.
There is no evidence for that. The last official price move went the other way: Sony raised its prices effective 2 April 2026 and cited economic pressures as the reason. For the next console, it mentions the same problem with memory prices.
A joint Sony and AMD effort to develop graphics technologies, announced in December 2024. It produced Neural Arrays, Radiance Cores and Universal Compression. These are technologies for future PlayStation hardware, not the specs of a specific console, and according to Mark Cerny they exist only in simulations so far.
Waiting for the next console is a bet on a date that even Sony doesn’t have yet. If that changes and an official announcement comes, it will also mean Sony starts talking officially about the price, not that the PS5 loses support. More comparisons and news are in the PlayStation section on Gamers Together. Information verified as of 12 August 2026.
Thumbnail photo: BeatEmUps, CC BY 3.0.