I disagree...Not that MS hardware team hasn't done some good stuff, but disagree with this notion they are on some whole other level.

MS basically did in 2017 with the XB1X and the XB1S prior to that what sony had already accomplished with their own hardware in 2013. Everything you could look at and say was an improvement over the OG XB1 to the XB1s/XB1X (especially the 1X) was just MS doing thing design-wise to mimic what sony had done since PS4slaucnh.

Where they differ at that point (especially when looking at the Pro vs the 1X) has more to do with design choices and priorities than with engineering brilliance. 1X went for a bigger APU, sony didn't, 1X went with a vapor chamber cooler (which if you follow tech in the industry you would know is as standard an option as picking a color for your PCB) sony went for a standard cooler. 1X was targeting a $499 price point PS4pro was targeting a $399 one. Sony was never targeting "native 4K" with the Pro, which is why they built in hardware specifically to boost their CBR implementation. Sony were never trying to prioritize a "quiet" console" or they could have just gone the XB1og route and used a bigger fan and bigger case or smaller case and vapor chamber cooling. The things you are attributing to "great engineering" really isn't. 

And now if looking at the PS5 and XSX, its the same thing again. It's easy to look at something that has more power as "being on another level" but those just come down to some very simple design choices. Size of APU, size of cooler. Surely, looking at both upcoming next-gen consoles, sony's engineering team has made and designed by far more disruptive hardware features. Their SSD, their complete rethink of clock and power profile in consoles, their fixed power approach to mastering thermals, their IO throughput stuff. Believe me when I say that as far as chip engineering goes, these are far more interesting and complex than simply having a bigger GPU/APU.

Since it will be more on semanthics... Since yes I can agree that the cooling solution of X1X (and possibly X1) were stronger and quieter (but don't know about the power drain or cost) we can certainly say it is more effective or stronger, efficiency is something we can't directly calculate. Anyway as you said both done the job and certainly since a very good portion of gamers consider the noise a relevant point (I don't, while playing it never bothered me, although my fat PS4 is quite noisy even on home when my son is using - possibly needing some cleaning and perhaps thermal paste replacement) I can concede that the cooling solution on Xbox was superior this gen (and well it is possible to be superior on next gen since we already know XSX is improved over the X1X and PS5 even though said is improved we don't know how much, and well it would take a major improvement to get close to XSX).

What makes it superior though? 

Speaking on function, yes, it was quieter, but it was also bigger and later on, a more expensive solution. These are both things that sony could just as easily have also done,it doesn't require any kinda engineering genius to in one case say "ok, make the case bigger and put in the biggest fin array and fan we can fit into it" and in another case to say "make the case smaller and put in a vapor chamber cooling solution".

In case A, bigger case,bigger fins,bigger fan + lower RPMs + more air volume = quieter operation. In case B, vapor chamber cooling = more expensive but faster thermal dissipation. These things ar all deterministic, ad very common. Its clear sony went a different route, and one mostly determined by staying withing a particular form and pricing factor. But at the end of the day, their cooling solution did what it was designed to do, cool the system and keep it running. If it had a RROD level thermal failure type thing then we could say it was poorly designed or bad.

This is like saying a 500HP V8 (usually between 4-6 litre engine) is better designed than a 500HP turbocharged 3.0 litre engine that has similar performance because the V8 sounds different.

Superior in keeping it cooler and with less noise, more expensive is the price to pay for it.

I didn`t say MS engineers are superior, but that the solution is better and there is no denying on technical standpoint. Sure if you want to discuss on economics it would be a different metric. Thus why I said we can`t say it is more efficient, because it is more expensive or take more space and perhaps more watts.

And no, the two solutions don`t have similar performance, they at most achieve the intended result (thus why I also said it doesn`t mean MS engineers are on another level).

Sony recognized the noise issue with PS4 and that the thermal was problematic the way consoles were designed before and that now they decided to a fix thermal draw and design the whole system around it and make it quieter. It is possible that it will be a great decision, but we need to see it.

I think both Microsoft and Sony if they price the console at $499 are already selling at a loss. I do think that there a good possibility that Sony will go with the $399 for the digital edition. I only think Sony goes $399 if they truly feel Xbox one S is a treat. On the other hand, Sony knows they are the market leader and PS5 is by far the most popular next-gen consoles right now. If you can sell the same amount of units for $50 extra, it makes more business sense. 

Sony as a much bigger worldwide demand compared to Microsoft consoles. In Japan alone they will have to ship a million more units than Microsoft.

Besides, I was responding to a post claiming all digital PS5 would release at $299 & PS5 at $349.  

I agree, but they also need to worry about their price helping the competitor to sell more and thus making it harder for them to sell to that crowd later on.

Sony has responded. Either Bloomberg article was totally false, massively outdated or partially true where there are yield issues but Sony has upped production either way to hit 15 million sales.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-15-sony-reportedly-cuts-ps5-production-by-4m-units

From all we know every single shipment number were purely rumor, not a single number was ever confirmed by Sony.

This time tomorrow the question won't be price if they match or beat any of the Xbox SKUs, it will be how much money they are losing and how it will bring Sony to its knees. Lol

Sony announced they will close their manufacturing of TVs in Brazil, there were plenty of Nintendo fanboys on some facebook gaming page claiming that to be a sign of Sony going bankrupt.