Rumours of a more slender variant of the PS5 have been circulating for quite some time now, and its existence might have just been confirmed thanks to a hands-on video of a supposedly leaked outer shell of the system. This comes after further details of the PS5 Pro supposedly leaked just last week.
Getting back to the Slim, this could be the fabled new model with the detachable disc drive that's been making the rounds for a while, although it's not exactly what we'd call a radical redesign. This new supposed slim model does appear to be somewhat more svelte than the original model, as the individual holding this new model does so with one hand; anyone who owns a PS5 knows that this is quite a challenge with the current model thanks to its awkward size, weight and shape.
Notably, this PS5 seems to feature a gap at around the midway point of the side panels, which could allude to the detachable disc drive. Originally, the suspicion with the disc drive is that it would be connected via USB-C, and in the leaked images and video we can indeed see that this new model is outfitted with two front-facing USB-C connectors, whereas the original model only had one.
Elsewhere, this alleged PS5 Slim carries over the same two-tone white and black design of the current PS5, with the overall appearance unsurprisingly taking on that of a slightly shrunken down PS5.
The leak comes from X (formerly Twitter) leaker @BwE_Dev, in which the individual shows the outer shell of the console in a full 360-degree view. It's worth noting that this is an empty case, with none of the internal components present. An image of the console was also spotted last week on a Chinese forum by The Verge, sporting the same design as seen in the hands-on video.
Hints of a PS5 Slim launching this year also cropped up during Sony and Microsoft's court battle over the latter company's acquisition of the games development and publishing company, Activision. Could we see a new PS5 by the end of the year?
MORE:
Read our full PS5 review
As well as our full Xbox Series X review
Need help deciding which console to go for? PS5 vs Xbox Series X