PS4 Update: 2 Variants Of PlayStation 4 Expected From Sony In September

During a scheduled press conference on Sept. 7 at the PlayStation Theatre in New York, Sony Corporation is expected to announce two new variants of the popular PlayStation 4 video game console. The Japanese company said in June it would launch an enhanced graphics version of PS4 and rumors of the other variant began in earnest after a Twitter user bought a slimmer version of the console Sunday.

Going by shortman82, the Twitter user posted a series of images of a slim version of the PS4 from a sale advertisement on British classifieds site Gumtree.

And a few hours later, shortman82 had the console in his possession.

It is not known whether it is this slim version or the promised 4K display-capable device that has been codenamed Neo. The slim model, according to the seller on Gumtree (the original post has since been taken down), is not available in stores yet.

Sony has already said the Sept. 7 conference will focus on PS4, but not confirmed it will launch any products at the time. Damian Thong, an analyst with Macquarie Securities, told the Wall Street Journal he expects the slimmer device to be cheaper than the $350 the standard version currently sells for. That would allow it to compete better against the Xbox One S, which starts at $299 for the 500GB version — the same amount of hard disk space seen in the PS4 slim photos.

However, the Xbox One S already features a 4K display, something the higher-end version of the PS4 is expected to debut in Sony’s console line-up.

Sony’s PlayStation 4, launched in 2013, is the world’s highest-selling video game console. It has sold about 40 million units worldwide, compared with Microsoft’s Xbox One that launched the same year but has sold about half that number.

Till now, Sony has always sold only one version of its PlayStation consoles at a given point of time. This could be the first instance the company sells multiple variants simultaneously. Moving in to the virtual reality space, Sony is also launching PlayStation VR in October this year.