The Xbox One was actually not that much inferior to the PS4, around 30% if I recall it right.

They shot their brand with trying to force people to pay a mandatory extra $100 for the Kinect even when the console was weaker, and with all the DRM and lack of talk about games when first trying to promote it.

The thing is, PlayStation was always a way bigger brand, the PS3 was Sony's time to shot its brand and what make Xbox relevant to begin with.

When Sony does it right most people simply choose the PlayStation by default outside the US/UK. There too, but to a way lesser extent.

If the PS5 have had no supply issues it would be far ahead of the PS4, so yeah, it's going to keep gaining ground until it eclipses it, thought the PS4 was a beast too, so it's hard to gain that much that fast.

Actually, I would say it was less about power and more about presentation. When Xbox One first came out, Don Mattrick was running the show, and it was all about how the console would be your TV's DVR. It was all about TV, TV, TV, and how Xbox was not so much a game console, but an entertainment hub. Also, the whole anti-used-game fiasco... all of it was just a massive PR nightmare right out of the gates. Sony saw the error in what Microsoft was doing, and wisely countered at just the right time and the rest was history. By the time Phil took over, the damage was pretty much done. 

The PS4 has a significant horsepower advantage over the Xbox One. It has 50% more GPU compute units, allowing for greater parallel processing power that can either be used for onscreen fidelity, or for in-game effects such as real-time physics.

t also has a simpler memory system, with a single 8GB lump of fast GDDR5 memory, compared to Xbox One's slower DDR3 memory and 32MB high-speed cache. Simple is always good when it comes to console architecture.

That's a massive power difference. Games ran much better on ps4, xbox had to do everything perfect to be able to compete with sony and that was a death sentence. I was a 360 owner and  switched to sony right after i saw the specs and focus on kinect.

It had approximately 50% more raw graphical power. The games did the talking too, because multiplats, more often than not, were far superior on PS4 (much like the early days of the 360 vs PS3, with the situation in reverse). 

That was hardly shooting themselves in the foot, though. One system is always going to be inferior.

I mean you expect systems  that are catering to the same audience to be close in power since they basically came out at the same time. On top of the gpu, you also  also had 8GB lump of fast GDDR5 memory compared to xbox slow ram. Which  gamers were going crazy for online. i would say that they differently shot themselves in the foot, and they sacrificed the specs for kinect which was DOA on xboxone.  

Game output had a far bigger impact than specs. What helped the PS3, for example, were the games, despite the system being notoriously difficult to work with.

A console is only as good as its software. 

I agree with you some what, but there are other factors as well. Europe is basically Sony land and it's a big reason ps3 was able to out sell 360 or match it. sony is a much bigger gaming brand, it's like japan for example it's Nintendo land. Microsoft by far has the weakest  gaming brand and releasing significantly weaker console at the same time basically sealed the console war, when they needed t do everything perfectly just to compete. 

I think the assumption that PS5 would be way ahead of PS4 without supply issues is not necessarily true. We really don't know how much demand was pent up due to the shortages, and we really don't know whether the cause of the shortages (COVID) influenced increased gaming activity which lead to more demand. 

Basically, I wouldn't use definitives like that. PS5 will likely eclipse PS4, but whether it stays there is a different story. I wouldn't take it for granted. Sony still needs to maintain a consistent output. Which hopefully 2024 is better for them in that regard. 

Thats pretty impressive for not having many exclusives yet. Strong brand.