Sony has quietly released a refreshed PS5 Slim in Europe, with less storage and a new finish, but bizarrely, the price hasn’t changed.
The digital model had been rumoured to have a downgrade for a while, but now, thanks to a teardown by YouTuber Austin Evans, we’ve had that confirmed. The new PS5 Slim now comes with 825GB of storage, cheaper parts, and a new finish. Despite the changes, the console is still being sold for €499.
The most obvious change is cosmetic: Sony has swapped the glossy accents for a full matte finish across the panels and around the ports. This is a small, but thoughtful change that should banish greasy fingerprint marks for good.
Inside, the fan has been made lighter and the motherboard has been redesigned to remove excess material. A thinner steel plate has also been installed to protect the motherboard, while heat pipes have also been shifted to streamline thermal flow. This has reduced the weight of the console by 123 grams while maintaining the same power, performance, and thermals of the original.
Of course, the biggest change comes to the console’s storage. Sony has reduced the Slim’s capacity from 1TB to 825GB, which is a massive blow. With big triple-A games often topping 100GB at launch, this reduction is hard to ignore – especially when Sony’s asking for the same amount of money.
This is shame. As Evans rightly points out, Sony’s engineering is is excellent – the fact it has managed to reduce the weight of the console by reimagining its internals without compromising on its performance is fantastic. It’s just let down by the fact that you’re essentially paying the same amount of money for a console with even smaller storage.
Given the fact Sony already raised the price of the digital version of the console earlier this year, this launch feels like a kick in the teeth.
Opinion
The CFI-210 shows Sony is still fine-tuning the PS5 Slim. But with reduced storage and the same old price tag, consumers are being forced to pay more for less, and it’s getting tiring.
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