It will increase the sales.

whatabout the motherboard. Possibly a better fitting case with better spaceing.

Sales Will EXPLODE

I love how people say its 'an obvious fake'. Obvious? How obvious? I don't see anything in the pics that looks doctored to me. Where do you see it? Do you use photoshop? Do you really know anything about what you're looking at in terms of a possibly edited picture? Is that your hand in the picture? Do you work at the factory where they make them?

Stop being fanboys...that's extremely annoying. If you have a solid reason besides "They can't they'll lose money!" when you don't have a clue how much it costs to produce or "It's too soon for a slim PS3!" when you don't know anything about Sony's plan for the console, then say it.

I would go as far as to say based on the original size of the PS3, Sony planned from the beginning to release a Slim version sooner than they have in the past. I would almost garuntee it....but I'm not going to run around saying that. Why you might ask? Because like you...I don't work for Sony or make PS3's either!

I'm not saying it's true, but you don't know what you're talking about if you say for sure it isn't.

Also to note, not that we expect any game companies to be completely honest with us, Sony has said no price cut. They wont release a Slim version without a lower price. So either this rumor is false, Sony is lying (never!), or these images are just very early images of something that's not going to come out until the end of the year. However, based on the fact that Sony is expecting 13 million PS3 sales, it's extremely easy to assume a Slim version with a lower price.

I'm leaning towards this being true, otherwise theres no logical way Sony would ever expect 13 million console sales. Theres no other scenario that would make me believe as an amateur analyst (yessss) that they think they can reach that mark any other way. Sony isn't always right, but they aren't delusional.

This is the biggie and cannot be ignored, Sony cannot be make unrealistic estimations because the shareholders are taking notice. I hope Sony is not expecting GT5 to sell 3 million consoles..........something is going on ZOMG B3RIEVE!

Also, what is that first picture? It kinda looks like a 'stress lab' if you will. It looks like it might be where they test the console, its durability, dropping it, leaving it on, etc etc.

That's just a guess, I don't see what else it could be used for. What's with the pink tho? Is this part of the 'guys should wear pink!' trend? (no, they shouldn't!) That makes me want to not use my PS3..now it has cooties!

it will have an impact in america of course but the effect in japan will be interesting! a smaller ps3 is what they have always wanted! well sony are expecting the ps3 sales to rise by a couple of million. i dont think games alone can do that so they have something up their sleeve for sure!

If I had to bet, I'd say either pricecut at E3 or slim and pricecut announced by Fall, probably at TGS (can you say Slim ps3 FF13 bundle?).

well said, i swear the way some people talk here you would think every member here runs sony!

 That is why I said that it would save some money but not alot.  How uch do you think the case caosts to begin with because you can't save more then that original amount.  I would guess that on a slim you might save between $10 and $20 on shrinking the case an motherboard.