A while back I had a series of threads called tech talk. In line with that series but this one hopefully more open, i wanna start another series that lets us discuss and share what we think will be in the next generation of console hardware. 

The discuss part simple means you should make a vote in this thread and talk about whatever you think or know pertaining to the topic. The sahre part means you could make a thread and mark it out as NGT: (insert whatever you wanna cover here) in there. This way we could hopefully have the all you may need to know threads of different compononets of console gaming hardware presently and as they develop.

Now that thats out of the way. On with this thread.

STORAGE

This is important not just to store game data, but it plays a big role on how quickly your games load or even how th e games are designed. Basically, we have three  interfaces (yes two interfaces but multiple possible drives).

1. SATA (up to 500MB/s)
   this is what everyone is using right now. Its what is in the PS4/XB1. If the next gen consoles come with this interface as its default interface, then the best we will have are SSDs that allows us have transfer speeds of a maximum of 500MB/s (and in truth that is just theoretically)
   
   
2. M.2 (up to 3GB/s)
   This new tech has been gaining a lot of traction right now, but is still firmly rooted in what may be considered as enthusiast tech. Its possible to have a universal M.2 interface that supports the cheaper SATA level speeds 500MB/s SSDs and also support the faster (but more expensive) NvME 3GB/s  SSDs.
   
   
3. Embedded Storage
   This will be akin to going with the Nintendo Switch route. And with this all bets are pretty much off. But Ideally it entails having ssome for of nand flash storage built right onto the MB of the systems. It could also offer support for eithe SATA or M.2 NvME speeds depending on how they go about implementing it.

There is no need for a huge storage solution in the system, just enough for it to install apps etc. I would try to move away from game installs completely.

They all need to get together, come up with a writable cart solution 128GB carts (which updates and patches can be stored on) and if they all use it they will probably be $1-3 each to make and because they are all using it there would be no proprietary hardware fees. Essentially time to do away with BluRays and all jump to a new agreed format.

well thats not going to happen.

Yeah, as much as I wish it weren't the case, unless the cost efficiency makes some huge leaps in the next few years big SSD's probably won't  get cheap enough in time for 9th gen - in which case SSHD's would make sense - hopefully with relatively decent clocks and intelligent distribution.

I fully believe next gen needs to be using SSD, either in SATA or M.2 form. SSD sizes are going to rapidly out pace HDD going forward, and SSD is going to be cheaper per TB around 2021 - 2022.

Releasing a new console without SSD at this point is a horrible idea. If we get a PS5 in 2019 or 2020 with say an 8TB SSHD, it will be massively outdated within months, as SSD begins to make incredible gains in capacity and price.

To me we should see one more revision of the current gen from Sony in 2019. The XOX can hold off until a sucessor in 2022.

Come 2022 I belive we should see a full generational leap from Sony and Microsoft, offering between 20 -30 Tflops, 128GB RAM, and 16 -32TB of SSD storage preferrably M.2.

M.2 seems to be what would make the most sense if they are going to go the SSD route cause you can have SATA or NvME support using that interface. Its also a much smaller form factor which could allow for a bigger cooling array in the consoles or a smaller footprint.

But right now, SATA speed M.2 drives cost around $120 for 500GB at retail. So maybe $90 for OEMs buying in bulk. That cost has to drop to like $30 before there is a chance of them ending up in consoles.

Your discussion is not really about storage. It is about interfaces that storage typically (not always) use.

Sata is also not "up to" 500MB/s.
Sata 3.2 is actually up to "1969MB/s." (16Gbits)

Sata 3 tops out at 600MB/s.
Sata 2 tops out at 300MB/s.
Sata 1 tops out at 150MB/s.

If they retain their use of mechanical disks... Then outside of burst speeds (Aka. Data loading from a Hard Drives cache to Ram), you will not see a difference between Sata 2's 300MB/s and Sata 3.2's 1969MB/s.

They might not even bother with a Hybrid drive.
Next gen they will go with whatever is cost effective for the capacity, that is likely to still be mechanical disks rather than more expensive Hybrid drives or SSD's.

However... They could include a few gigabytes of SLC NAND as a cache on the motherboard, but I highly doubt even that.

Depends on how low they can go with TLC Stacked Nand on a cost-per gigabyte perspective. If they could pull off a 1 Terabyte SSD for under $100, then all bets are probably off.
Of course we consumers will still need to buy external drives and such for those with decent game library's.

We'll end up with the cheapest solution that's good enough for the storage requirements of the next generation. That is, we should probably know more about the storage solution before speculating about the interface it's going to use.

Also, I'm not expecting SSDs to become cheap enough by the start of the next gen. Small ones might become cheap enough, but they don't have enough storage capacity. Capacity requirements keep rising, so a small SSD won't suffice even for the cheapest models.

I have a M.2 drive in my pc, no going back, its small its power effecient its fast its needed next gen.
And obv a tradition drive for game data :P cuz M.2 isn't going to be cheap and we will need 2+TB as a standard with ever growing game sizes

There won't be a proper next gen until we SSD becomes cheap enough. HDD's are not fast enough to facilitate the amount of RAM we need, and the streaming speeds we will need for next gen games. 

SSD capacity is going to make gigantic leaps in going forward, and as we start getting 64TB, 128TB, 256TB, 512TB, and 1PB drives, the prices for 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB drives will drop rapidly.

Everything lines up very well for a next gen in about ~2022. We will have he CPU, GPU, RAM, and Storage requirements required to deliver a solid next gen experience, and not just a more polished PS4/XB1 experience.