They could take the same strategy as Nintendo last gen: release the old console undera new name, claim its backwards compatibility and announce it with some magical gizmo that will save the planet :).

Impossible! Sony needs to see the other consoles before they release their system. So they can make a "You can play used games and play offline"-E3 :D

Brilliant

Never going to happen, for very simple reasons.

The next generation will be based on 16/20nm technology. This won't be economically feasible for "cheap" consoles until 2016, and you need this technology to be able to increase the power of the next console generation. Just being a little faster won't cut it at this level of investment. The PS4 SoC is pretty much the upper limit of what you can do with a $400 budget. Maybe even some form of stacking technology will be affordable by 2016. Nobody has an idea yet just how expensive this 16/20nm techology is in the end. The big question mark is the PC low level architecture (Mantle, DX12, etc).  If this stuff takes over the PC world, then there might not be any advantage left for a console at all. So I am not sure if we will see a next console generation. In any case, the next step is taken by Nintendo, they have to replace their WiiU because that thing goes absolutely nowhere.

We might see something like:

2016: PS4/XBox One refreshes (with 10-20% higher clocks to finally get to 1080p/60Hz), and a WiiU^2

2018/9 (or 2017/8 if someone gets nervous): Next generation, or nothing at all anymore.

WTF??? .___________.

That does cause somewhat of a bind for Sony.... hm.... I'll think of something

Because what matters is hardware... Ok.

Wouldn't that make them lose the 8th gen? While the X1 would continue to sell the PS5 would cannibalize the PS4 sales and put off A LOT of customers. A gen isn't over as soon as the next one is released.

No, the gen ends as soon as one manufacturer moves to another generation.

Are you saying the PS3 lost last gen in 3rd place then?