That's exactly it

The PSP really was just better than the Vita for its time.  It even had a quasi Switch feature with the PSP Go that was kinda lame given that it was digital only.  PSP support for PS1 was better than the Vita ffs.  Still loved my Vita though, for Vita games, when I was still doing portable gaming.

Aside from Nintendo winning by a large margin, Nintendo claiming multiple times they weren't competing with Sony/Microsoft, 7th Gen largely being represented by the level of performance shown by PS360, and PS360 being so close it needed a photo finish?

Because I wasn't talking about Nintendo.

PSP is clearly out of date. And after PSP sold 82m, the Vita and PSP did not ship 17.3m.

Thus we have

Ya know what's funny.

This is official information from Sony but it's also out of date.

PS2 has 155m as of March 31st 2012 but it sold another 4m or so after that was never disclosed (because Sony lumped it in with PS3 sales).

PSP also sold more after March 2012 too.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 26, 2019

Unaccounted units for PS3 and PS2 still yet to be added. Here is a stronger breakdown.

Known sales PS3 at 74.1m

Known sales PS2 at 155.1m

Unknown sales PS2+ PS3 at 16.5m.

If one estimates PS2 at 156.5m or 157.5m, then that means PS3 sold >89.2m or >88.2m as of March 31 2015. However the PS3 didn't end shipments until October 2016 for USA and ~May 2017 for Japan. If PS3 at 87.4m is true, than that means PS2 sold >158.3m.

My guess is that once Vita is done for a few years, we'll probably get its info, as well. But, it's cool getting the official PS3 numbers, now. It definitely finished in 2nd.

Zhugeex believes it shipped 4m after March 2012. I believe the PS3 had the higher share. But nobody really knows. Shipments of new units to Europe and Australia ended in March 2016, followed by North America which ended in October 2016 Heading into 2017, Japan was the last territory where new units were still being produced until May 29, 2017, when Sony confirmed the PlayStation 3 was discontinued in Japan.

The confirmed numbers are as below:

Known sales PS3 at 74.1m, FY2014/15

Known sales PS2 at 155.1m, FY2011/12

Unknown sales PS2+ PS3 at 16.5m., FY2014/15

At the end of FY2014/15, Sony shipments were confirmed to be at 460m, with 370m being home console sales, 22.3m was PS4. So 90m for PSP and Vita, PSP is not more than 82m, so 8m for Vita.

On August 9 2018, Sony confirmed 525.3m (+65.3m) Playstation sales. PS4 was at 81.2m. (+58.9m) Notice here the 6.4m discrepancy, likely Vita and PS3.

Now PS4 is at 96.8m, bringing Total Playstation sales to at least 540.9m, but probably a bit more with Vita.

Of that 540.9m, PS1 shipped 102.49m, PS4 shipped 96.8m, PS2 at least 155.1m, PS3 at least 74.1m Vita and PSP at least 90m (82m PSP and 8m Vita?), leaving 22.41m. 16.5m of which is guaranteed PS2 or PS3, leaving 5.91m or more which is likely all Vita.

Sony didn't give lifetime numbers even for some old consoles. Considering that PSV sales remain hidden under the rug and good numbers only were revealed, maybe this non-uniform reveal is a PR move to make more discussions happen and so get some more free publicity.
Or maybe it's because a non-uniform reveal makes it more difficult to deduce PSV numbers from previously revealed total Sony consoles sales.

I always thought that the best measure to consider which was the best console of a generation was not how much console units a console sold but how many games/software it sold. In that regard, is really impressive how well X360 and PS3 did, both surpassing Wii, and both with the best ratio by far compared to the rest of consoles. 

PS3 was a financial problem for Sony, no doubt about that, but as a gaming console, it was a juggernaut. In my opinion it still has the best/largest library of any PS system. The amount of new ip's, new first party games, goty game contenders that launched in that gen has not been surpassed in this one in my opinion. Just remember: Uncharted, The Last of Us, LittleBigPlanet, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect, Batman Arkham, Bioshock, ... plus established ip's getting to another level like Call of Duty, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Far Cry, Battlefield, FIFA, NBA 2k, ....and of couse succeful old franchises like Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Ratchet and Clank, Grand Theft Auto, ... still doing great.

I joke that PS3 was the most expensive marketing campaign for PS4, but it really was. Without Sony's effort with PS3 during 2009-2013, PS4 wouldn't have had started as good as it did.