Considering that after getting my switch I was able to pick up a 128gb SD card for it for just £40 and bring the storage up to 150-160GB for that price... then thinking of the Vita where just 64GB cost me well over €100 I think that if Sony was to produce a portable console they would likely try to subsidize the cost of the device with ridiculous storage options which would cripple the machine to the point of destroying the usefulness of it.

If such a machine existed and wasn't insanely costly sure I would buy it on day one... do I have faith that Sony could produce it without trying to stick something in the mix like the memory card issue of the Vita really... no I can't see that happening.

no because it would either be big and heavy or have terrible battery life.
at which point the portability is moot

Lots of time Sony has tried to imitate Nintendo not much success was found, their handhelds never really took off, the PS move was a flop, Playstation Battle Royale etc etc, Sony should stick to what they are doing, I mean they are winning, why would they risk another failure just because Nintendo is doing good with something?

I feel about the same. I don't think they can do it, unless they decide to go for less power, which I doubt they will do.

I think it is absolutely vital to the long term success of Sony and PlayStation, that they add a mobile device to the PlayStation eycosystem. The PlayStation OS, PlayStation Network, and PlayStation Store compete directly with Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and many other smaller competitors. The rest are all offering access to your content acrosss a range of products from watches to the most high end PC. For Sony to remain competitive, they must maintain value parity with the competition. Software in the PlayStation eycosystem must be playable across multiple form factors, it is becoming an industry standard.

I will absolutely buy a mobile PlayStation that ties into the PlayStation eycosystem. A device that is capable of playing all PS4 titles will be possible by 2020. They could either use a 7nm version of the PS4 chipset, or a new 7nm chipset based on Zen+/Navi, or even jump ship to nvidia. In any case, they can make a device that is completely compatible with all PS4 software and services without a problem, and if they go with either the zen+/Navi or nvidia route (depending on which way PS5 gos), they should be also compatible with PS5 games going forward.

Samsung says by 2020 1TB of SSD storage will be price equivilant to a 500GB HDD right now, so they will have no problem with storage. The APU should be common to either the base PS4 of 2020, or the most basic version of the PS5, making cost extreamly low there as well. I beleive they could pull this off for $300 in 2020 at a pofit on every device.

On top of a Portable version, I believe they also must offer a 4G or 5G Phone version of the same form factor. Giving people the ability to keep it on them 24/7 is critical to the success of any mobile brand. It may not be a popular idea around, here, but whether it can make calls and text is the biggest question I get about handhelds from casuals. If Sony and Nintendo ever want to see DS/PSP numbers from their mobile products again they must make they connected 24/7, with communication capabilities built in seamlessly, and that is a fact, not an opinion.

Why would Sony do that? They'd be cannibalizing their own market. The reason Switch works is because Nintendo doesn't have a dedicated home console competing with it at the moment, and the 3DS (or 2DS) is only going to be around for another year or two before Nintendo decides to go all-in on the Switch.

Absolutely not. Wouldn't even think of buying. All about gaming in front of the TV for me

Sony has to make a portable at some point or pray that 8K/16K gaming > portability.

Nintendo's portables are only going to get more powerful and they'll acquire more and more 3rd parties the longer Sony waits.

The question is less 'should they?' and more 'can they?'.

Seeing powerdraw and heat contraints of a mobile device they have two possibilities:
1. Go with a mobile chip based on ARM that is specialized for mobile needs.
2. Wait for another die shrink and have AMD design a X86 based SoC for them.

Regarding the 1st option, the Switch is already using the most powerful mobile chip currently out in the market. Yes Nvidia has since unveiled and released the successor chip that is twice as powerful/half as enery consuming, but so far it's only used in 600$ dev kits and cars and no consumer version has been released.
And even that chip would require serious porting/optimization for PS4 games to run seamlessly, since it still is a weaker chip on a diffrent architechture, with less bandwith. It would not be a smooth process and people would likely have to rebuy the games, or have them digital only.

That leaves you with option two. Pray that nothing catches on fire basically. X86 just isn't where ARM is when it comes to powerdraw/performance. The PS4 Slim draws 130W with a 16nm architechture and is bigger and thicker than a conventional 13'' laptop and heavyer than my late 2011 macbook pro, wich at 2kg is quite the dead weight to lug around.
Compare that to the Switch, wich at 400g and a size of 10+22 cm (joy-con attached) was criticized for not being small and protable enough and for it's weak battery life even though it only draws a MAX enery of 39W while docked and less than that in HH mode.

Even with a 10nm die shrink and assuming 50%+ less powerdraw the PS4 isn't even in the ballpark. A 7nm die shrink woulf get you closer, but good luck getting that within the PS4 lifespan. It would be so expensive and such an extensive redesign for Sony, that it just isn't worth it imo.

We already had this topic. Again it's not even possible as there is no mobile chip on the market that can match PS4. Even if there was the price would be 400-500 bucks. Ask again in 2021.