The Blu-Ray drive costs was the problem in the first place. It was estimated last year, that the Blu-Ray drive would cost as much as $350 alone. Now it looks like this cost will be reduced by at least $100 and will continue to fall when more production costs are reduced and more sales.
I think we all jumped aboard the bandwagon with regards to Sony losing at least $200 on each PS3 sold....well when you sit back and think about it though. Until last week the PS3 was $599 in the US, but in Japan, the 20Gb PS3 is retailing for just over $400, so going on this information, Sony were selling the PS3 for half the amount it costs them to make it.
It certainly does seem more plausible that they have reduced costs significantly with the Blu-Ray diodes problem being fixed and the removal of the Emotion engine to be making a profit on each unit sold at $599, whether it is a $10 or $100 profit.
With the price reduction by $100, this says to me that they may not be making much of a profit if any at all now, but I seriously doubt they were making a big loss, or they wouldn't have reduced the price just yet.
Prediction (June 12th 2017)
Permanent pricedrop for both PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro in October.
PS4 Slim $249 (October 2017)
PS4 Pro $349 (October 2017)
