PS6 handheld is real suggests new PS5 power saver mode

A PS5 update has given credence to a rumour around a PS6 handheld, as Sony rolls out greater flexibility for the DualSense controller.

The prospect of the PlayStation 6 being released in the next two years doesn’t feel like a particularly exciting proposition, considering the PlayStation 5’s current lack of exclusives, but rumours suggest Sony might have two new consoles currently in the pipeline.

Since last year, there’s been growing evidence to suggest Sony is planning a PlayStation 6 handheld along with a home console. However, it’s unclear if this will be a standalone console like the PS Vita, a remote player like the PlayStation Portal, or some kind of hybrid.

While Sony hasn’t said anything definitive, a new system update for the PlayStation 5 has verified one detail from a prior rumour connected to the handheld, suggesting it could actually be happening.

In a PlayStation blog post, Sony announced plans to roll out a new power saver mode in the PlayStation 5 settings. The feature is not set to go live until some point in the future, but for some reason Sony has taken it upon itself to explain how it works now.

‘While this feature won’t be available during the beta phase, once it officially launches, supported PlayStation 5 games will scale back performance and will allow your PlayStation 5 to reduce its power consumption when the feature is enabled optionally by gamers,’ reads the blog post.

Sony highlights the feature as being part of the company’s overall plan to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, but prior rumours from leaker Kepler previously mentioned how Sony is preparing a ‘reduced bandwidth’ mode for the PlayStation 5, in order to unify development of games across the console and its planned handheld.

This power saver mode sounds exactly like what was rumoured before, so a new handheld suddenly sounds a lot more likely.

Kepler previously claimed the portable device’s power will be somewhere between an Xbox Series S and a standard PlayStation 5, with 15W SoC on 3nm processors. He also said the device will be able to run PlayStation 5 games but not at the same resolution or frame rate, hence why this power saver mode might be needed.

Sony has talked about the PlayStation 6 before, and even hinted at a portable console, but there’s still no official word on when it could be released. The same leaker, Kepler, estimated it could be in the second half of 2027.

The power saver mode isn’t the only feature Sony is testing for the PlayStation 5. Elsewhere in the blog post, the company announced it is rolling out the ability to pair DualSense controllers across multiple devices simultaneously.

This means you’ll be able to connect your controller across your PlayStation 5, PC, Mac, or other devices at the same time, without needing to reconnect when you switch between them.

Beta access for this update is only available in select countries (US, Canada, UK, Japan, Germany, and France) to invited individuals, with plans to release it globally in the ‘coming months’.

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