Sony working on a proper Switch 2 rival PS5 handheld
It may be years off, but Sony is heading back to the world of handheld consoles
Were you disappointed the PlayStation Portal isn’t a proper console like the Vita? Sony is apparently working on a fully-fledged handheld console too.
The bad news is it almost certainly won’t be ready for next Christmas, let alone this one.
Sony’s handheld console is in the “early stages” of development according to Bloomberg, but the concept alone is enough to make this one note-worthy. It will apparently be powerful enough to let you play PlayStation 5 games.
This means it will need to be significantly more powerful than the current-generation Steam Deck. But by the time it arrives the original PlayStation hardware’s aged state should make recreating the experience in handheld form viable.
One obvious take on this news is it’s just Sony reacting to Microsoft’s recent statement about an Xbox handheld being in development — and also years away from release. Xbox head Phil Spencer said as much in an interview.
However, parts of Sony reportedly wanted the Portal to be a full handheld in the first place. All it can do is stream PlayStation 5 games from your console, and its processor is comparable to that of a very low-end phone.
It could probably emulate some SNES games, but actually play PlayStation 5 titles? Not a chance. Then again, it doesn’t cost a fortune and has a great screen, so it’s not all bad.
Sony’s last full handheld was the PS Vita, which was released in Japan at the end of 2011. It was not a success, despite being a great piece of hardware, and sold an estimated 15 million units. Its predecessor the PSP sold upwards of 80 million.
The next big release in the handheld space is the Nintendo Switch 2, which is being dragged out by Nintendo announcing alarm clocks and music apps at the events you’d assume would be a perfect fit for the console.
Nintendo says the Switch 2 is going to be revealed by the end of March 2025, and that it will be backwards-compatible with Switch games. That’s a solid step towards ensuring we don’t end up with another Wii U disaster — the console sold just 13.56 million units worldwide after the 101-million-selling Wii.