Those who’ve been hoping that Sony will one day re-enter the handheld gaming market might be getting their wish- but it seems to be a monkey’s paw situation. A new report claims that a new PlayStation handheld is indeed in the works, albeit with some caveats.
Journalist Tom Henderson recently claimed that Sony was working on new unannounced PlayStation hardware, and now, in report published on Insider Gaming, has claimed that that hardware is a new handheld codenamed Q Lite. However, rather than being its own thing that will run native games, it seems like it’s going to be a companion device to your PS5.
The Q Lite will allegedly require a persistent online connection and will run PS5 games using Remote Play, rather than being focused on cloud streaming, which is what was recently claimed. The handheld system is said to have an 8-inch LCD screen, and similar to the PS5’s DualSense, adaptive triggers and haptic feedback support. It will allegedly also support adaptive streaming to render games at 1080p and 60 FPS.
As per the report, the Q Lite is currently in the QA phase, and is expected to release before the rumoured PS5 Pro (which is allegedly targeting Holiday 2024 release) but after the rumoured PS5 model with a detachable disc drive (which is said to be releasing this September).
Henderson goes on to claim in his report that the Q Lite is likely to be unveiled at Sony’s rumoured PlayStation Showcase, which is allegedly set for early June.