| V-r0cK said: I'm so use to other technology being upgraded so frequently I've come to accept the Neo. However I bit surprised and displeased at first as this isn't something common in the console world. But ultimately, if at the end of the day ALL PS4 can unite and play the same games then it's all good by me. |
Yea, it's a first time in the home console space that a manufacturer releases a clearly stronger version of the same console, but I think the reason might be that Sony is very limited in how cheap they can make the current PS4.
They may simply not be able to shrink the current APU, which means it won't get any cheaper to produce. In which case Sony only has the option to use a different architecture which already is ready for use in a smaller process, yet simply using the exact same configuration could result in code written for the older tech to not run as efficiently on the new one > worse results.
Sony seems to circumvent that by using a clearly stronger configuration that can easily bruteforce their way to PS4 parity in games not patched/coded for the new architecture, while offering better image quality and/or framerates in comming games/patched games, so that they can even sell the PS4 Neo at higher prices > higher margins.
The PS4 Neo APU still should be smaller in size and once yields catch up that's the by far most important factor how expensive the chips are to produce, so the new stronger APU will probably end up being cheaper per unit and have more potential for price drops (I expect the normal PS4 to be phased out earlier than the Neo).
