While it feels like we're still recovering from the price shock of the PlayStation 5 Pro, the next Sony console is already waiting for us on the horizon.
Of course, the Japanese company has been working on the successor for a long time: until now, the PlayStation 6 was expected to be released in 2027. New rumors seem to confirm this forecast.
PS6 chip: tapeout planned for the end of the year
Like the leaker who is considered reliableKepler_L2 im NeoGAF-Forumexplains, an important step on the way to the PS6 has been completed: the design of the underlying SoC (System on a Chip) should be finalized. This SoC is currently in the »pre-silicon validation«.
- In simple terms, this means an endurance test for the chip design in which it is checked for possible problems and errors.
- If any are found, they can be remedied before the actual (and much more expensive) manufacturing process.
In the course of this manufacturing process, the »A0-Tapeout« important and refers to the first complete version of a chip design released for production.
This A0 tapeout is also mentioned by Kepler_L2. This production step is scheduled to take place this year.
This information also leads to the conclusion that the PlayStation 6 should actually come onto the market in 2027: Basically, Sony is allowing two years between the A0 tapeout and the final release.
PS6: A little note about the graphics unit
Aside from the rumors about the status of PS6 production, Kepler_L2 had another detail ready in the forum post. The GPU used should be a special variant of thegfx13act and actually refers to an RDNA-5 chip.
- However, at IFA 2024, AMD announced that it would abandon the RDNA architecture and instead rely on the “UDNA” architecture. The recently announced RX-9000 GPUs are probably the last to rely on RDNA.
- Just a few months after the IFA announcement, the first rumors emerged that...will set. Production for this is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2026.
- The PS6's GPU is said to have a shader structure that is similar to GCN ("Graphics Core Next"). This was last seen in the Radeon Vega graphics cards, which were replaced by RDNA in 2019. However, the leak did not provide any further details about the gfx13 chip.
