Sony’s long-rumored PlayStation handheld appears to be moving closer to reality, with new technical details emerging from a reliable industry source. According to KeplerL2, a well-known AMD leaker active on the NeoGAF forums, the handheld will feature an advanced AMD APU and several architectural changes aimed at improving efficiency while keeping power consumption low.
The upcoming PlayStation Handheld device is said to include AI upscaling, making it the first AMD-powered system to feature the technology. While not confirmed by Sony, this capability could enhance visual fidelity by allowing the handheld to upscale lower-resolution graphics in real time, a practical approach for a device with more limited hardware resources compared to home consoles.
Memory configuration has also been addressed. The handheld will reportedly come equipped with 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM. Although LPDDR6 is expected in future devices, it’s still not ready for consumer products. KeplerL2 noted that while the handheld will operate with roughly one-third of the memory bandwidth of the standard PlayStation 5, it will feature additional cache and improvements to memory compression to offset the limitations.
Specifically, the APU is said to include 4MB of L2 cache and 16MB of MALL (Memory-At-Last-Level) cache. This is a notable departure from current-generation consoles and could help maintain performance levels in bandwidth-constrained scenarios. MALL cache, in particular, is used to store frequently accessed data closer to the GPU, which can reduce latency and increase efficiency.
The handheld’s architecture will reportedly be a customized version of AMD’s gfx13 lineup, also known as RDNA5 or UDNA, which is also expected to be the foundation for the PlayStation 6. This suggests that the new device will serve as a stepping stone toward Sony’s next-generation console platform.
While Sony has not officially confirmed the development of a new handheld, speculation has grown in recent months. A recent discovery of a low-energy mode being tested for the PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro has led some to believe that Sony may be preparing performance profiles suited to a portable device.
In contrast, Microsoft has taken more visible steps into the handheld market. During the 2025 Xbox Game Showcase, the company introduced the ROG Xbox Ally, a gaming PC built in collaboration with ASUS that adopts Xbox branding. There were also reports of Microsoft working on a dedicated handheld system, though those efforts were reportedly paused to focus on improving Windows 11’s gaming experience on portable devices.
If the reports are accurate, Sony’s new handheld could represent a significant evolution in its portable gaming strategy. Unlike the PlayStation Portal, which relies on remote streaming, this device appears to be built as a fully capable standalone console. As of now, however, Sony has made no official announcements, and the details remain unofficial until confirmed.
