Sony’s Latest Patent Hints at a Mountable Disc Drive in “Game Machines” and Possibly Future PS5 Models

Sony is rumored to release a new version of their popular PlayStation 5 gaming console later this year. Currently, PlayStation 5 is available in two models; a regular PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition. But since last year, rumors of a new ‘PlayStation Pro‘ have been coming to light. Although Sony has not confirmed this name or any features yet, we can expect some updates during the PlayStation Showcase rumored to come in May 2023.

Many rumors also mention that Sony will launch the new PS5 version with a detachable disk drive. And now, it has found some footing with the new patent released by Sony recently.

Sony’s new possible patent for PlayStation 5

Sony Interactive Entertainment recently published the patent for an Optical Disk drive and Electronic equipment. Furthermore, the patent language indicates explicitly that Sony can place the optical disc drive in electronic equipment such as a game machine, personal computer, or audio-visual (AV) equipment.

Sony has developed this detachable disk with as few components as they can. This is to prevent the bulking up of the device due to the additional components attached to it. The disk drive has a conveying roller position manipulation mechanism, a centering mechanism, and a chucking pulley operation mechanism included in itself.

It also has a mechanism to dampen the vibrations produced by the base unit that affects the disk drive. In this mechanism, a first damper holds the base unit in the inner case, while a second damper holds the inner case in the outer case. These dampers can reduce the noise created by the disk drive significantly.

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Sony is yet to reveal a functioning model to prove the dampening of vibrations. Although this is no guarantee that Sony will use the aforementioned optical disc drive in their upcoming PS5 model. However, this patent publication makes it quite likely.

Merits of a detachable disk drive for Sony

Although still a patent, this detachable disk drive will solve a lot of problems for Sony. The biggest one is production cost. Currently, Sony is producing two versions of PS5, one with a disk drive and one without.

If the detachable disk drive enters the market, they can focus on producing only one type of PlayStation variant.

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What are your thoughts on Sony developing a detachable disk drive for PS5? Let us know in the comment section below.