They dont have enough studios to support it.

Just think about it, would Sony and other developers be willing to give their games for free for all the millions of people who already bought them on the normal ps4? Because I really don't think most of those people would want to rebuy games they already own for the portable ps4. Also, retail ps4 games would probably have to be re-released in cartridge form, because even with digital being more popular now, an digital only handheld would still turn a lot of people off, and would have the same storage problems as switch. It just seem too much of a hassle to even bother with it.

Why risk possibly losing money if it doesn't sell well? They should just focus on PS4 which has been printing money for them consistently

Something like this.

A PS4P would need to launch late 2019 at the latest to remain relevant and not be overshadowed by PS5 or a Switch 2. The odds of PS being able to cram a PS4 into a Switch like shell, and have more than an hour battery life would be next to impossible. They would have to change the hardware design somewhat, or throttle everything back, maybe both. You could expect the system to have 500GF to 1TF of performance, not 1.84TF. This would also more than likely lead to patches or ports for PS4P games. Fairly minor, and fairly easy, but more work again even after the extra work that goes into the Pro patches. Work that could be going into PS4/Pro games, or even PS5 games.

I wonder if PS never planned for a PS4P like device, would they maybe try to make PS5 games super scalable so there could be a PS5P along with the PS5 and PS5 Pro? The portable would be super weak in comparison to the PS5, so I'm not sure if that's doable without holding back the console version of a game.

Yes this was rumored for a while now even before the switch was released, a portable ps4 that plays your digital PS4 games seems feasible 

You missed the point of basically everything I said in my post.

I know 4nm X86 theoretically is energy efficient and cool enough to be put in a mobile formfactor. You say that as if we already had 4nm x86 chipsets. Or were even close to seeing them on roadmaps. We're not. They don't exist. Hence why Sony would be forced to go with a mobile chipset.

And again, taking a mobile chip, as opposed to a die shrink to play PS4 games would negate the purpose of a portable PS4 because it would require porting.

I have not seen the X2 benchmarked directly against the A11, but the point is almost stupidly moot anyways because Apple is not going to license their in-house designs to Sony. That's just not in their business model.

Also the Tegra X1 isn't the chip Sony would be after if they were building a powerful mobile console, it would be a theoretical Tegra X3. Something that is likely on Nintendos and NVIDIAs 10-year roadmap.

My point is that NVIDIA (and Apple but that is irrelevant for this discussion) are ahead on high fidelity video game specialized mobile chips (wich they would be, seeing their core business....) and no one else on the market really comes close to delivering the chips that they do. The A11 and the Snapdragon literally just released this year, so you're comparing a two year old chip with brand new ones at this point as well.

So if sony can't use NVIDIA chips and they can't use Apples chips, they are stuck with snapdragon, who according to you just released a chip this year that is 'pretty much on par' with the 2-year old x1. Case and point.

Sony has never been able to beat Nintendo in handhelds and their last one bombed harder than Hiroshima. Yes, I know that is a harsh opening statement but there's no other way to view this. No, Sony is not going to make a portable. They've learned their lesson. Home consoles is where they are great, not handhelds. They aren't Nintendo. Just stop.

No need they are dominating the hardware market still.

I would rather they focus on PS5 and getting VR up to a better standard on the next console, with perhaps a smaller headset design.

Just throwing this out there because I'm not exactly tech savvy myself...but could it be manageable thru screen mirroring? I know the Xbox One can mirror from wi fi...just a thought...

I apologize for being ignorant to this topic...I'm pretty new to this gen..I'm assuming the PS4 can mirror to the Vita but idk.