I wouldn't say all that...

But I'd agree Ninty had 0 influence over this mid gen upgrade.  It's just Sony reinvesting in their already super successful platform, by staying ahead or current.  Sony makes 4k tvs  and blu ray so I'd argue they had to do this as a tech company.

What does Sony have to be afraid of exactly when they will have already had a 40M+ install base by the time NX releases ? 

The idea that Nintendo pressured Sony is laughable given current circumstances ...

I would say that they had influence over when, but not if.

The NX, that's what. PS4 could be at 80m right now, and what the NX is bringing to consoles would end their reign. If NX is outselling PS4 every week from launch onwards, that 40m head start will mean jack all.

Of course it's laughable. I said they didn't pressure Sony to do anything. It doesn't mean Sony is stupid enough to look at a company like Nintendo like they pose no threat when Nintendo literally just slaughtered Sony's handheld division into complete and total extinction this generation with their dominance. Sony, believe it or not, is actually run by intelligent human beings with working brains and adequate deductive reasoning skills.

An ant that completely destroyed all the competition last generation by miles, has billions more than the other companies, and has the best selling and most worldwide known IP's ever to be made. 

Yeah, I bet they totally look at Nintendo like they're an ant. 

I DON'T deny that they were a dominant force in the last generation but that doesn't translate to their current strength ...

I think its gotta do with how shit the Vita is selling. So far there are no signs (even rumors) of another PlayStation Portable coming.

Soooo I guess to back that up, they have to make a PS4k. Because if Nintendo releases another handheld, the Vita has another competitor.

No, this was going to come anyway. But I'm sure it influenced the release date.

It looks like Sony do not want to leave anything to their competitors, not even the "NX is now the most powerful Console"; not even this. They are bad :D

Probably not as the primary reason but it may have had an secondary influence. I suspect PS4.5 was co-developed with Playstation VR (Neo -- Morpheus).