Last week, Microsoft finally launched its Xbox One S gaming console that it first officially announced during E3 2016, which allowed the company to once again lead the gaming narrative that Sony used to own for a while. However it doesn’t appear Microsoft’s lead will be long lasting, as French gaming website Gameblog is reporting today that Sony is now expected to unveil an upgrade to its PlayStation 4 at an event held in New York City on September 7 (via Polygon).
The new console codenamed “Neo” is expected to support 4K TV sets and also pave the way for PlayStation VR, Sony’s own virtual reality platform that is set to be a more integrated solution than competing products such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. While it’s not clear yet if the PlayStation Neo could also support true 4K gaming, we reported last month that according to a set of leaked internal slides Sony’s new console could have 2.3 times the FLOP count of the PS4, which puts it at about 4 teraflops.
If these numbers are true, Sony’s PlayStation 4 Neo would obviously be more powerful than Microsoft’s Xbox One S, which is only slightly more powerful than the original Xbox One model thanks to though an increased GPU frequency to enable HDR support. However, Microsoft already announced during E3 2016 its answer to the rumored PS4 Neo with Project Scorpio, a 4K-ready console with 6 Teraflop of computing power that Microsoft confidently touted as “the most powerful console ever built.” However, Microsoft’s next gaming console won’t ship until 2017’s holiday season, which is quite a long time to wait if you’re an Xbox enthusiast.
According to the report, the PlayStation 4 Neo will support the majority of PS4 games and will be sold along at a higher price point alongside Sony’s current gaming console. All upcoming PS4 games would also support the current model while a “NEO mode” with better graphics could be available on the new hardware.
