New PS Portal model has expanded storage but Sony won’t say why

You’ll need to go to Japan to nab one of these (Sony/YouTube) Sony is being strangely taciturn about an updated version of its PlayStation Portal device, which may be foreshadowing its PlayStation 6 plans. Last month, Sony announced a fancy Midnight Black PlayStation 5 console that will coincide with the launch of GTA 6, but it came with the caveat of being exclusive to Japan. Now, the company is doing near enough the exact same thing with a new version of its PlayStation Portal handheld device. It’s not out until December 10, but it has the same Midnight Black colour scheme and is also locked to Japan. What’s caught fans’ interest, however, is that this isn’t just a differently coloured model of the Portal that’s already available. This one boasts an expanded internal storage and Sony, for some reason, won’t explain why that is. The announcement via the PlayStation Blog doesn’t even say how much more internal storage this new model has, only saying, ‘with an eye towards future functionality, the new model includes additional internal storage. We will announce details about this feature as soon as they are finalised.’ As a reminder, the Portal does not run PlayStation games natively and instead lets you stream games from your PlayStation 5 console. You could initially only play games installed on the console, but PlayStation Premium subscribers can now use cloud streaming to access select games straight from the service’s game catalogue, without needing to download them to their home console. Want GTA 6 news? Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week. Sony’s vague comments about ‘future functionality’ have naturally got people speculating what the company has in mind, perhaps indicating that the extra internal storage could be used for storing games on the Portal, allowing it to run them natively – making it far more useful as a portable console. For a long time, Sony has been rumoured as planning both a new home console and a handheld device (possibly even a hybrid model like the Switch 2) for the next generation, which Sony itself has seemed to hint at. Combined with recent comments about how development on Sony’s next console is ‘progressing as scheduled’ and how ‘there will be investment in the new platform’ starting from the next fiscal year (which starts April 2027), it’d make sense for Sony to be experimenting with its handheld capabilities through the Portal. However, the biggest concern with a hypothetical PlayStation 6 handheld is whether it would be powerful enough to run even PlayStation 5 games natively, let along PlayStation 6. Even if it could that would imply a very expensive device, and yet Sony is selling the new Portal for ¥39,980, which is exactly how much the current Portal model costs in Japan (over here, it’s £219.99). This also suggests that however much extra storage is being added, it’s not a massive amount. For what it’s worth, the Portal currently has about 6GB of internal storage, but you can’t access it since the device is just for streaming. As such, some fans on Reddit speculate that this extra storage will be used to run apps such as YouTube and Netflix. Although, it’s also posited that even if it can’t run PlayStation 5 games natively, perhaps it’ll be able to do so for games from older consoles, such as the PlayStation 1 or even other handhelds like the PlayStation Portable. No one knows what the PlayStation 6 will even look like (Metro) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: GTA 6 datamine suggests new PS5 Pro support and cut content in Australia Arrow MORE: The Gaffer review – fantasy fifties football Arrow MORE: Star Wars: Galactic Racer has DLC plans but doesn’t want to ‘overpromise’ GameCentral Get the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week.