PlayStation 6 faces $680 memory cost claim

Sony’s unannounced PlayStation 6 could face more than $680 in RAM and NAND storage costs, according to an Oct. 18 Sözcü report citing hardware leaker KeplerL2’s NeoGAF post.

The claim matters because component inflation would narrow Sony’s room on pricing and margins; KeplerL2’s total hardware-cost estimate reportedly rose from about $760 in March to about $960 in July.

Sözcü said the $680 figure covers only RAM, the system memory used while games run, and NAND, the flash storage used for game installs and system data. It excludes the APU, cooling hardware, power supply, motherboard and other parts.

The report attributed the higher estimate to pressure in DRAM and NAND markets, saying artificial-intelligence data centers are consuming large volumes of memory and affecting capacity available for other electronics. That market link is presented in the report as an explanation, not as a Sony disclosure.

The same report said leaks point to GDDR7 memory with a 160-bit bus for PlayStation 6. It said a configuration of up to 40 GB is theoretically possible, while 30 GB is described as more likely, and that Sony may consider lower memory capacity to contain costs.

None of the figures is official. Sözcü said Sony has not announced PlayStation 6 specifications or a retail price, and the report’s mention of a possible roughly $1,000 sale price is not described as Sony’s plan.

Sony’s choices, as framed by the report, include absorbing more cost through its own margin, charging a higher price or reducing hardware specifications. No launch date, specification sheet or pricing announcement was given.

Source: Trade-press report, Sözcü, Oct. 18.