Last year, we saw a new variant of the PS5, which comes with a new screw, a smaller heatsink which provides better cooling, and 300g less weight. Now, it looks like another variant is out and about, sporting even more weight reduction.
Japanese retailers have shared that Sony Interactive Entertainment will be releasing a third PS5 variant in the coming weeks, sporting the new CFI-1200 model number. This was set to launch in Japan on 15 September, the same day the console’s price hike goes into effect in the country. But according to a report by Press Start Australia, the new console models have already landed on the land down under.
The report states that Australian retailers are already selling PS5 consoles with the model numbers CFI-1202A and CFI-1202B. These refer to the standard and Digital editions, respectively. The one notable difference is that these models are lighter than the second iteration of the consoles, which themselves are already lighter than their first generation counterparts. To break it down, these latest PS5 models weigh 3.9kg and 3.4kg for the standard and Digital Editions, respectively. This was 4.2kg and 3.6kg with last year’s revision, and 4.5kg and 3.9kg with the launch models.
Beyond their weight, it’s unclear for now what the difference is with these new PS5 models. Though based on a report from last year, the console is supposed to go through a hardware redesign this year, seeing the 7nm AMD CPU being being replaced with a 6nm one.
Beyond that, one could speculate that this is another heatsink trimming exercise. This not only reduces the materials – and by extension, cost – of making a PS5, this may also result in better cooling, if the engineers at SIE can pull it off, at the cost of a slightly louder fan. That being said, cost is probably not a factor considering the company said it still needed to raise the prices of the consoles.
At the time of writing, these new PS5 variants have not made it into the SIRIM database yet. But if or when they do, we can probably expect to see CFI-1218A and a CFI-1218B entries. This is based on the previous models which show a different model number to indicate regional variants. All that being said, we don’t expect the console to be any easier to find, even if you can stomach the RM200 price hike.
(Source: Press Start Australia [1], [2])
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