PS6 handheld could reportedly outperform the base PS5 with PSSR 3.0

Sony's rumored next-generation handheld, codenamed Project Canis, has reportedly received another round of leaked specifications. PC hardware outlet GameGPU refers to the device as the "PSP 3," although that name does not appear to be official.

According to the report, Project Canis could use a custom 3nm AMD chip featuring six Zen 6 CPU cores, split between four Zen 6c cores and two power-efficient Zen 6 LP cores. The processor would reportedly be paired with 24GB of shared LPDDR5X memory on a 192-bit bus, while the GPU would feature 16 RDNA 5 Compute Units with Dual-Issue FP32 support.

Power efficiency appears to be central to the design, with the chip allegedly operating within a 15W to 25W power range depending on the mode. In handheld mode, GameGPU claims the GPU could run at 1.2GHz, delivering around 4.91 TFLOPS of raw compute performance. Docking the system would reportedly increase the clock to 1.65GHz, raising theoretical performance to approximately 6.75 TFLOPS.

Those numbers are considerably below the PS5 Pro's 16.7 TFLOPS, but the leak suggests Sony isn't relying purely on raw GPU power. Instead, PSSR 3.0, reportedly the company's next-generation upscaling and frame-generation technology, could play a major role in achieving higher visual quality.

GameGPU claims games could render internally at just 540p in portable mode, with PSSR 3.0 reconstructing the image to the handheld's native 1080p resolution. Based on this approach, the outlet estimates an effective performance level of around 10 to 11 TFLOPS in portable mode and approximately 14 TFLOPS when docked.

Of course, effective TFLOPS figures aren't directly comparable to raw hardware specifications, particularly when different architectures and upscaling technologies are involved. Still, the estimates would theoretically put Project Canis above the base PS5's 10.28 TFLOPS in some scenarios.

The leak also lines up with earlier claims from Kepler_L2, who reportedly said Project Canis would outperform the Xbox Series S in rasterization, with a larger advantage in ray tracing and path tracing. Kepler_L2 has additionally claimed that PSSR 3.0 could eventually deliver better image quality than NVIDIA's DLSS 4.5.

If accurate, Project Canis could be an interesting approach to PS5-compatible portable gaming, using advanced reconstruction technology to compensate for strict power limits. However, these specifications remain unconfirmed, and GameGPU has a less established track record than some other PlayStation hardware leakers. For now, the rumored 2027 release should be treated cautiously.

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