Many people were surprised by the striking design of the new PS5, which abandons
the black box design of recent console generations for bold curves and a
striking black-and-white color scheme. While it didn't take long for players to
start making memes about the appearance of the console, others have noted its
increased size over its predecessors, the PS4 and even the original "fat" PS3.
According to one Sony employee, the size was necessary to keep the console cool.
The next generation is not messing around when it comes to power. When one
commenter asked on LinkedIn why the console is so bulky--as spotted by
VG247--PlayStation's vice president of UX design Matt MacLaurin replied:
"Thermals. This gen is little supercomputers. While the 7nm process delivers
amazing heat performance for the power, the power is very extreme."
However, there might be other reasons for the large size. A leaked patent seems
to suggest that Sony is building a cartridge that might work with the PS5. Some
observers have speculated that it's an external solid-state drive that will slot
into the console for memory management, but there's no official word if that's
the case. We still don't know how much the PS5 will cost, or the PS5's full
line-up of games, but odds are likely that more details will come out over the
coming weeks. The Xbox Series X is also a huge console, but it sports a PC-like
form factor that is more familiar to players. The console, like the PS5, can be
placed horizontally or vertically.
