I kinda feel the xbox division fell into that trap thinking power is everything just because in the beginning of the gen everyone was comparing resolutions and framerates between ps4 n xbox one. The problem is the xbox one was 100 bucks more and at same time it had weaker hardware. Even at 400 bucks without kinect it still was weaker than a ps4 and the perceived value was less compared the ps4.

Microsoft was so tired of loosing in all them Digital Foundry comparisons so they had to top the "half assed" ps4 pro and so they focused on hardware instead of what really matters, games. Just comparing  ps4 2018 lineup to xbox lineup and its looking really spooky especially since none of their games hold any weight.

And this is after 2017 where PS4 had a beast lineup and xbox had the worst year ever.

So yeah i agree with what you said. Switch and base PS4 will wipe the floor with XBOX when it comes to games AND sales this and coming year(s).

No man, sorry but that's the thing. PS4 and Pro basically share the same assets as lack of more RAM doesn't allow for bigger textures.

Some games had room to improve on PS4 Pro (it has 1 GB more RAM than the PS4 by the way) and got higher assets.

F.e. inFamous: Second Son once was 22 GB, now it is 28 GB:

There also have been some huge patch-downloads for PS4 : https://physicalgames.wordpress.com/ps4-update-sizes/

Of course they sometimes include more game content and not all of the patches increase the install size because old data gets overwritten).

Nevertheless huge downloads can be a problem for PS4 users, too.

No one codes directly to the hardware anymore, no one writes in Assembly/Machine in 2017, there is no need for it.
But the good thing about that is... It's far easier to retain backwards compatibility and develop software and games.

With that... A Pascal based Tegra can provide 50% more performance for the same power over the Maxwell Tegra (Aka. The chip in the Switch).
And provide 128% more bandwidth. (The biggest game changer for performance at 1080P verses the Switch.)

A Volta based Tegra has already been demonstrated for a few markets like cars... And is set to double the Pascal based Tegra again and is using 16nm at TSMC.
There would be power/performance gains if nVidia shifted Volta Tegra to "12nm" as well of a around 10%...

In short, I doubt we will get a chip that is a Playstation 4 in identical capabilities for many years yet, but we can get "close enough" with hardware available today/soon.

Yep.. the market is price sensitive, but since they still offer X1, I don't think X1X price is an issue (unless they have expectations that are excessively positive).

Ps4 Pro was 400 LAST YEAR, it's available for 340,- already with an additional soon to be announced official price drop, possibly on PSX in December. It's a 40% power difference to PS4Pro, so nothing major. Sony wants 100 dollars more for a 2.3 times as fast console, basically because PS4 was already a decent machine.

Microsoft on the other hand wants 300 dollars more for a 4.6 times as fast console. Not sure what is the better proposition. It's basically the same.

My point still stands. Sony's way to go, with a substantial upgrade for 4K users at a minimal price difference while still respecting the base console and putting their money in game development....over MS's take to basically embarrass base X1 users in the future and putting their money on better looking multiplats..any day of the f'in week!

No man, sorry but that's the thing. PS4 and Pro basically share the same assets as lack of more RAM doesn't allow for bigger textures.

MS management said they were focused on bringing the best HW and after finishing X1X they would back their focus to SW. But put that with all the other promises of increasing 1st party, until they really do it.

"No body codes to metal anymore" maybe in games by third party development scene, and consoles hardware being off the shelf PC, but even the regular ps4 API has some amount of customization, and many third party games are still utilizing Low level API offered by PS. I'll be surprised if sony first party developers are not using low level API to write directly to the hardware.

regarding the hardware comments I m just pointing out the options of hardware available for a custom design, and sony being a hardware company have shown that they can make a potent chip for a handheld and console, and with a help of a custom API it is possible to achieve graphic fidelity on the levels of PS4 on a handheld, again case in point is PSVita that device was punching above its weight with its custom design SoC with off the shelf hardware compared to similar hardware in other devices such ipad and iphone 5 compared to cellphones now ps vita Still has some of the best looking games.

Look at doom on a two year old chip running on switch, I think Sony can better that

Look at doom on a two year old chip running on switch, I think Sony can better that

Look at doom on a two year old chip running on switch, I think Sony can better that

The other issue is price movement.
When you release a new product that has a certain level of brand recognition, chances are you are going to have good initial sales thanks to early adopters regardless of price.

Once the sales rate rate starts to enter decline you then start reducing the price to reinvigorate sales rates, the 3DS was a good example of this, it had a great couple days of sales then it imploded.
Microsoft and Sony have gotten stupidly clever on this front, especially during the Holiday season.

You are correct. Consoles do get cheaper over time.
The Xbox One X has only been out a week. Give it time for Microsoft to profit from early adopters before making price movements, it will happen.

I wouldn't call the Playstation 4 a 4k console though.
The Xbox One X is more like a "Sometimes 4k" console.

You are going to have to elaborate on your reasoning though, because the way it reads is... It's okay for Sony to release a more powerful console, but the Xbox One X should have been weaker so it's not as big of a jump and thus likely weaker than the Pro. - Then would I be correct to assume you would have complained about it's lack of power?

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.
If the Xbox One X is to expensive for you or you don't like it's increase in performance... Simple. Don't buy it, it's clearly not the product for you and that is okay.

Then don't buy the Playstation 4 Pro if you don't think it's worth the entry price.
The great thing about having multiple products in a product lineup is... Choice.

You are not obligated to buy the Playstation 4 Pro. You are not obligated to buy the Xbox One X.

It has certainly given the Xbox's dismal sales this year a good boost, which is good for competition.

But I agree, the momentum is the important thing to worry about, if Microsoft doesn't push out games... Then the sales rate will decline.

To be fair... We have seen Microsoft make bold claims about software before with high-level Billion dollar investments and so on.
I would hold back some reservation and see what happens.

Next year could be interesting with Crackdown (Currently luke warm reception), Sea of Thieves (Not really being advertised heavily? Plus it's Rare, it should be decent.), State of Decay 2 (Might have legs as it's a Zombie survival.), Ori and the Will of the wisps (Not a console pusher, still a charming title.).
Then you have your potential obligatory Gears of War, Halo and Forza as potentials too.

2019 could be a very dry year though, hopefully we never see a repeat of 2017 ever again.

If you are developing towards the PS4 Low-level API, then you are not building games to the metal. - And nor would there be any point in doing so.

With that, even some 3rd party games will be building their games for the low-level API, popular engines like Unreal Engine also support the Low-level API's found in the consoles.

Sony don't make high-end CPU's or GPU's though.
The last such endeavor was the Cell Processor, however... That was not their own sole efforts.
The ISA was based around IBM's IP and was fabricated by various partners.

In short. They pay someone else to do it.

As for the Vita vs other Mobile devices like the iPhone 5....
You need to keep in mind that Apples Metal API was a relatively new concept during the iPhones 5 life.

Games were very much still being built for the high-level API's (Something that continues to this day even)
Plus... Developers weren't having to pander to a lower common denominator. Most games on the iPhone 5 needed to run on hardware orders of magnitude inferior.
And thus the Vita's software was able to present an image that is a big deal step up by default.

Then add in the fact that allot of Vita's games had larger budgets so more R&D can be put towards better technology that drives the game engines and imagery... And well. It's no wonder things turned out the way it did.

It's not some amazing revelation though, it's par-the-course of open vs closed platforms since the beginning.

Damn straight Sony could do better than that... Because the technology is available for Sony to buy to pull it off.

You are right on price movement but considering how much tailoring and high end components (like the copper chamber) they put inside the X1X I don't think they plan or can reduce the price a lot.

On the case of the games, you are right. MS have promissed to increase 1st party several times and it never showed up.

The Vapor Chamber would indeed be more costly... But not as much as you think it would be over a typical heat-pipe heatsink. Even some mid-range GPU's selling for $250 AUD used to use those vapor chamber coolers.

Yeah. Microsoft has been laughable on the games front, even during the Xbox 360 days.
It felt like they started to make inroads and then the investment and game development imploded which has damaged the brand somewhat.
If Microsoft makes a promise about games, I would take the approach of "See it, then I will believe it.".