Yeah it's a shitty time to be releasing a new console, and unfortunately for Sony, they've spent the last 20 years making incredible graphics a big part of their brand, so if they try to make a less powerful box to keep prices down they'll inevitably cop a lot of flak for it not being a big leap over PS5.

Heck, PS5 itself already got criticised online in some circles for not being as big a leap as prior gens, and that was before the tech market became a dumpster fire.

They've got their work cut out for them whichever route they take, so it will be interesting to see how they try to thread the needle.

Frankly I think right now they'd be better off doing a PS5 redesign that cuts costs.

A PS5 Super Slim based on RDNA4, but still targeting the same power level, would be cheaper to manufacture. It would use less watts and allow them to save money on the cooling too.

I think any high expectations for amazing generational jumps already died with this generation, so gamers won't really care anymore if PS6 or any other system is more of the same. Graphics expectations are low but that's not going to stop people from buying consoles to play new video games.

They will release at least two versions to appeal to as many gamers as possible. Still, I suspect sales will be quite slow until the 3rd or 4th year when "must have" exclusives start dropping. It's not a real issue so long as the existing playerbase are active on any Playstation system.

Nothing wrong with the current formula, it's completely logical and what most people want.
Just make tons of good games like they used to, everything else will fall in place.