Sony Releases Official PS5 Teardown Video

PS5 consoles will be rolling out to consumers in about five weeks and we haven’t had a great look at the hardware so far. Sony rectified that today by releasing an official PS5 teardown video, which can be viewed below. Be sure to enable subtitles in the YouTube player if you don’t understand Japanese.

One of the things the video showcases most is that the the PS5 is a pretty big piece of kit that easily dwarfs the PS4 Pro. It also appears to be significantly larger than the original PS3, which was mocked for its heft when it was released back in 2006. The larger dimensions serve a purpose on the PS5, though: the console sports a very large heat sink and a 120mm fan which will work together to keep things quiet and cool during gameplay. Sacrificing a smaller form factor for a better user experience seems to have paid off though, as the console was described as “very quiet” at a recent hands-on event in Japan.

The video also demonstrates how PS5 owners will expand the console’s internal storage. Select PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs can be installed by removing a side panel and small expansion bay door, and while the process isn’t as streamlined as Microsoft’s solution for the Xbox Series X and Series S, Sony’s decision to support standard, off-the-shelf parts should make expanding the PS5’s storage cheaper in the long run.

Another major highlight that viewers of the teardown are pointing out is that the PS5 features side panels that seem rather easy to remove. A lot of gamers have said that they would have preferred a completely black PS5, and it seems completely possible that Sony could decide to release side panels in different colors or with graphics from various first-party franchises.

We’ve been curious as to how the console’s included stand will function, and we get a good look at that in the teardown as well. It seems rather simple to install, but it is needed in both horizontal and vertical orientations.

When it comes to what we will see next from the PS5, fans have been begging for a walkthrough of the console’s UI, so hopefully we get a look at that soon. More recently, Sony discussed the console’s 3D audio functionality on the PlayStation Blog and revealed that virtual surround sound for TV speakers will be added in a post-launch update.