Report claims PS6 handheld surpasses Xbox Series S in graphics tests

Well-known hardware leaker KeplerL2 recently shared some intriguing claims on the NeoGAF forums, suggesting that Sony’s rumored PlayStation 6 Portable could outperform the Xbox Series S in rasterization and be “massively ahead” when it comes to ray tracing and path tracing performance.

Given what’s already known about Sony and AMD’s collaboration on Project Amethyst, parts of this leak seem plausible - particularly the ray tracing claims. While full path tracing at high performance on a handheld still seems unlikely, the device could achieve feature parity with the standard PlayStation 6. That larger console is expected to support advanced rendering techniques like path tracing, based on comments from Mark Cerny and AMD’s Jack Huynh.

Internally, Sony is reportedly referring to the handheld as “Project Canis,” with leaked specifications including:

• 4 Zen 6c cores
• 2 Zen 6 LP cores
• 16 RDNA 5 compute units
• 192-bit LPDDR5X memory (24GB)
• Built on a 3nm TSMC process (135mm² die)

According to KeplerL2, this hardware would outperform the Nintendo Switch 2 and could even rival upcoming Microsoft handheld efforts like the ROG Xbox Ally X - especially depending on the strength of its AI upscaling. There are also claims that Sony’s next-gen PSSR implementation on the device could surpass NVIDIA’s recently announced DLSS 4.5.

Although details about RDNA 5 remain scarce, earlier leaks around Zen 6 suggest a major leap in IPC and per-core performance. One example showed a Zen 6 chip at 2.4 GHz competing with a Zen 5 processor running at 5 GHz, which hints at strong efficiency gains. That could make a six-core Zen 6 handheld far more capable than it might initially appear.

With Sony largely absent from the handheld space since the PS Vita launched in 2012, it’s encouraging to see renewed focus in this area. If these rumors hold true, upcoming devices like a potential Steam Deck 2 or next-gen ROG Ally could face serious competition, potentially leading to a much more competitive handheld market.

For the latest news on hardware launches and industry developments, be sure to follow our dedicated hardware coverage.