With the rumours of there being two models of PS6, a console and a PS6 handheld that's being designed to be of similar power to PS5, it's clear the handheld will be designed to run PS5 games natively and effectively just be a portable PS5. I believe these rumours to be true but this would have serious implications for PS6. If you have a PS6 handheld that isn't any better than a PS5, then all you will do is hold back the PS6. It doesn't make any sense, unless you consider that the PS6 isn't designed to replace the PS5, but run alongside it. 

Here's what I think will happen. When PS6 and PS6 handheld launches, all the Sony first party and third party developers will now target only 30fps on the PS5 instead of the 60fps they currently are. This makes sense because just by limiting the fps to 30fps, you effectively upgrade the consoles visual graphical capability by two, but people won't be upset because there will be an option if they still want 60, the PS6. 

Here's what I think the resolution of and fps of each console will be. The standard PS5 and PS6 handheld will be 1080p 30fps for all new games released, the PS5 Pro will target 4k 30fps and the PS6 will target 4k 60fps. 

Wait, are rumors saying Sony’s planning two separate models? I thought it was a hybrid system, or something akin to the Portal (i.e. not its own system as much as it is an accessory). That’d be an interesting decision…so something like XBSX (PS6 Home) and XBSS (PS6 Portable)? With how expensive tech is getting, this approach makes sense. Otherwise, PS6 is gonna have an entry point of >$1,000USD. A weaker handheld sitting around $500-650 would certainly do well esp if its significantly stronger than Switch 2.

The Wii U and 3DS did not share the same games. I suspect Sony will just shove the same games on both the handheld and home console. Who knows, it is all rumours at the moment.

The PS6 will replace the PS5.

However... Each generation there has been an elongation of cross-platform interoperability, I don't see that changing with the shift to the next-gen in the next couple of years.

It's not just about the horsepower, it's about the features that the new silicon will enable... And we are now firmly entrenched into the A.I era, the current generation consoles just don't have the chops for it.

yea i corrected myself. See updated post.

Wouldn't make sense to only launch a hybrid that is weaker than the PS5 Pro and call it the PS6. Would be difficult to make the handheld more powerful than PS5 and impossible with the PS5 Pro.

Yes, but all that new tech will just be used to make the new games run at 4k 60fps instead of 1080p 30 I think PS5 will be stuck at. Think about the amount of extra computational power you need to go from 1080p 30 to 4k 60. Why's it unreasonable to believe the amount of extra computational power that requires will be the gap between PS5 and PS6. 

Who’s to say they need to make it more powerful than PS5? I’d argue that Sony should be focused on keeping the price down. PS6 will not hit 100mil if it prices out consumers. They could simply make a handheld that is exactly as power as PS5 but with the assistance of technological advancements from over the past 5y to keep costs down at a similar output. They could just pull what they did with PS5 games at the start of the gen, engaging in some fine tuning so as to allow game to be playable on weaker (PS4) hardware.

That said, if PS6 is backwards compatible AND there exists a home console variant alongside a handheld capable of playing PS5 games, then PS5 has effectively been replaced. I don’t see there existing a market for PS5, and I don’t think Sony wants there to be a market, following Sony’s track-record of curtailing past gen hardware sales following the controversy of PS2-PS3.

PS5 will still get games for a long time regardless. PS4 still has games scheduled for 2026.
Perhaps it will be like the PS3 where PS2 has a successor but doesn't feel replaced for a time. Granted, that wasn't all Sony's plan. They pretty much had to heavily support PS2 because of the cost of PS3.

I just can't imagine that Sony would release a piece of hardware that is technically weaker than PS5 or PS5 Pro and call it a PS6 as they've never done anything like that before. You mention the numbers sold but it's not all about numbers. The business is more profitable now than it ever was during the PS4 days and they did that without PS5 selling better than PS4. So, they know they can still make record profits without record breaking hardware numbers and that's why people shouldn't fixate on hardware sales too much. 

The PS4 had one huge bottleneck and that was it's CPU and because it was such a weak point of the console, it meant it would've been impossible to coexist with it's successor. PS5 has no major bottleneck so Sony has no need to replace it and will have it co-exist with PS6 but have all the games target 30fps instead. 

Oh man, Sony will do the third pillar! DS will not replace GBA! It's the third pillar! Welcome back 2004!