Now that we're nearly 5 years in, was Series S a good or a bad idea?

[Kyuu]

It was a bad idea at the time, bearing in mind what people were expecting from a next gen system. But this generation ("so far" lol) is ultimately a PS4 on steroids + SSD speeds, and prices going up makes a cheaper/weaker option more viable.

Now no one's going to make fun of a "Series S style" PS6 from Sony, especially if it's a home console variant of their "PS6 Portable". Software technology just hasn't evolved at the same rate as hardware, and great looking games are costing a lot more for a relatively small perceptible benefit. Hence the entire industry is shifting towards supporting weaker systems including mobile phones sometimes.