When does the PS5 Slim come out? Release date, price and all the details

Ever since it was properly unveiled, people have been making mock-ups comparing the PS5 Slim to the launch PS5, but now we’ve finally got photos of one in the wild to use.

This new console is hotly anticipated, even if it isn’t a PS5 Pro, but instead just a slimmed-down version of the same console we’ve known and loved for the last few years. Here’s everything you should know about the PS5 Slim.

PS5 Slim release date

The PS5 Slim hasn’t been given an exact launch date, despite being official and unveiled. Rather, Sony has said that the new version of the PS5 will be available in stores sometime in November – we know it will be out in time for the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on 10 November, since it’s being bundled with the game.

This means it will be out in time for the holiday rush to buy consoles, but we don’t know exactly when. It’s clearly going to be soon, though – those retail bundles featuring the new version have already been spotted and leaked in stock rooms, as you can see below.

PS5 Slim price

The PS5 Slim has the exact same price as the standard, older PS5 – it will retail at $500 for the disc version. This means that you’ll get a smaller console with a little bit more storage for the same price as before.

Where things have changed slightly is for the Digital Edition, which comes without a disc drive. Its price has been hiked up by $50 to $450, although this time around you’ll also be able to buy a separate disc drive to swap in if you later decide you need one, for $80.

PS5 Slim design

We found out about the PS5 Slim’s design back in August 2023 thanks to a leak of its outer casing, and this was all confirmed when Sony took the wraps off its new version in early October 2023.

The big visual change (aside from it being smaller) is that the PS5 Slim has a slash down its middle, making for four panels instead of two. This allows it to be more modular, and means that Sony can have one manufacturing process to make both the disc and digital versions of the console, simplifying things.

PlayStation/ Pocket-lint

The console will now come without the adjustable stand that accompanied the older version, instead having a little attachable plastic stand for horizontal arrangements. If you want to stand it vertically, you’ll have to buy a separate stand from Sony.

One smaller change is that the console will now have two USB-C ports on the front, instead of one USB-C and one USB-A, which is welcome from an accessory charging point of view.

It was a little hard to visualise the size difference compared to an older PS5, but right at the end of October a Twitter user called @phantompainss got hold of the PS5 Slim early and posted the photos you can see below, which are really helpful.

This shows that the Slim is substantially smaller than the original console, even if it’s still hardly a tiny one itself.

PS5 Slim specs

The specs that the PS5 will bring to the table are very familiar – because it doesn’t offer any performance upgrades or increases compared to the original PlayStation 5.

The one thing that is changing is the capacity of its built-in SSD, which will now stand at 1TB instead of 825GB, a small but welcome upgrade to what was a fairly tight amount of storage.

In every other way, though, this is the same console you can already get right now, and it will also play all the same games without any restrictions or changes.

Should I upgrade to a PS5 Slim?

This is a complicated one, and we won’t be able to know for sure until we’ve managed to get hands-on with the new version of the PS5, but we wouldn’t say anyone with a PS5 should feel obliged to trade it for a PS5 Slim.

The two consoles will play all the same games identically, and while the newer one is smaller and a bit funkier, it’s not exactly a core upgrade.

However, if you don’t have a PS5 yet then we’d absolutely advocate that you wait for the PS5 Slim to come out so that you buy the most up-to-date and future-proof version of the console. After all, it should be out literally any day now.

Will my accessories work with the PS5 Slim?

If you’re already a PS5 gamer and you’ve got a bunch of accessories (or you’re about to buy some), whether that means headsets, controllers or any number of other things, don’t worry.

Since its software will be identical, all your accessories will work with the PS5 Slim just like they do the older PS5 – the only change is the loss of one USB-A port from the front, so you could possibly need to plan around that.