The PlayStation 5 looks to be the biggest game console in decades
Last week, Sony finally gave us our first look at the unique design of the PlayStation 5 hardware, leading to plenty of Internet mockery (the company also showed some PS5 games, I guess). For all the ethereal coolness of hardware shots shown on an amorphous white background, though, Sony's promo images didn't provide much external context for judging the actual size of the PlayStation 5 box (and Sony hasn't provided official measurements yet, either, in response to our queries).
That hasn't stopped Internet sleuths from figuring out their best estimates of the PS5's size, though. Reddit user GREB07 was among the first to judge the dimensions by using the standard sizes of the disc drive and USB ports as reference. Users on ResetEra did a similar analysis, using the size of the d-pad on the PS5 DualSense controller (which is presumably the same size as on the PS4 controller) as additional context. Twitter user EvilBoris and the folks over at IGN added their own estimates using similar methodologies.
The precise results vary a bit depending on the source—and based on precisely where you start and end the measurements on the PS5's wavy design. That said, the consensus estimate puts the PS5 at anywhere from 15 inches to 16 inches wide (all measurements in this piece assume a horizontal orientation for the console, for simplicity). That's easily the largest single dimension for a video game system on record, outpacing the 12.8-inch width of the PS3 or the 12.6-inch width of the original Xbox.
