i mean that as an actual question, why should anyone care about the PS4 slim model? in the case of the Xbox One, a slim model made sense. the console was big and bulky, it had a huge power brick, and with the slim model is now looks like their most refined product ever. But in this case i can pull up a whole list of reasons as to why I dont understand the concept of the PS4 slim.

1. the "slim" model isnt even that much smaller than the normal one. i understand that every Sony home console eventually gets a slim model, but was it necessary here? im actually asking, isnt the normal model compact enough? to top it off, it just looks ugly. the curved design and the overall look really does just look like a modified Apple TV, as some have said.

2. there are 2 possibilities for it right now. 1 is that it will have no hardware upgrades. and 2 is that it will have 4K upscaling. why do we need either of those? in the first case, you could pick up the better looking PS4 normal model for probably the same price. in the second case, isnt that what the Neo is going to be for?

3. the slim model of the Xbox One obiously exists to make buying it seem more enticing. but the PS4 is dominating the market right now. its sales outnumber the Xbox One and Wii U combined, and have a chance at toppind the 3DS. but as far as i can see, this will do nothing to help sales or to help profits at all.

so i am actually looking for an answer. why should anyone care about the PS4 slim? obviously there is something i am missing. i mean, would Sony really just make this for no logical purpose?

The slim is for new customers
The Neo is for people who want to upgrade and new customers

Easy.

Sony didnt design it to be a "upgrade" from the fat ps4.
They made this to be dirt cheap.
Its gonna be 249$ and sell truck loads of units to people that havnt bought a PS4 yet.

Slim is probably cheaper to produce shrunk down cheaper parts. Less shelf space at amazon and retailers. Uses probably less electricity is thus more efficent. The sense of the Slim is to save everyone money. Its probably going to be cheaper. And Sony might make more profit. So how clever would it be to not use your engineering capabilities that you already have to not make a more profitable product.

It's cheaper to manufacture than current model. The same reason why we get slim consoles every gen. 

The x1s looks pretty sexy like the ps4 where as ps4 slim looks ugly like the x1. The x1 really did need a resign from its vcr look but the ps4 didnt so I do agree. Yea 4k, cheaper components and hdr support is important but they should have designed the looks better compared to this. Hopefully the Neo looks better.

i don't think it's that simple. However it was easy to predict that Sony would be releasing the slim model in the future. I know people believe that the PS4 is a juggernaut, but the reality is far from it. The console market is shirinking, Sony and Microsoft need to use every trick in the book to sell consoles.    

Slim model allows a lower cost PS4 to sit alongside the 'neo' once launched. Basically consumers get two choices:

A) Slimmer PS4 with 500GB and 4K video for $250.
2) PS4-Neo with 1TB and 4K gaming for $350.

Neo will be 399$ - 449$ in my opinion.

They wont just have a 100$ price differnce between the slim and neo.

The PS4 has already outsold most major home consoles ever to exist and it is not even 3 years old yet. By the end of the year it will have outsold every single Atari, Sega and Nintendo(aside from the original Wii) console ever made, again, in under 3 years. This is PS2 all over again.