Ikea's PS5 and Xbox Series X sizing guides help in better furniture purchase choices, but a PS5 Slim may well happen sooner than anticipated ^↺

The new PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Xbox Series X consoles are no doubt powerful, but they also aren't the slimmest devices around. Of course, you can lay the consoles flat, but most decors would do best with a vertical setup. Having said that, not every living room may have adequate spaces for vertical or horizontal orientations, and this is where Ikea wants to lend a helping hand.

A Redditor has spotted sizing guides for the Xbox Series X and PS5 in an Ikea store. These sizing guides are cardboard boxes built to exact scale of both consoles complete with measurements displayed on each side. That way, anyone can easily determine whether the new consoles would fit into their shelves or not for whichever desired orientation. 

What's the purpose of a dummy console in a furniture store, you ask? For one, it alleviates the need to actually bring your console to check whether it fits. All you need to know is some basic measurements of your shelf for comparison with these cardboard pieces. It is also a nice marketing method that promotes both consoles — that you still cannot currently buy them everywhere is a different story altogether.

Will we see slimmer consoles down the line?

So far, we have seen Sony introduce two PlayStation (PS) 5 versions — a disc-less Digital Edition and a regular variant with a Blu-ray disc (BD) player. However, mid-life cycle console refreshes aren't uncommon as we have already seen with the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Of late, there is speculation we might soon see a PS5 Slim. In fact, recent reports claimed that a PlayStation 5 Lite could arrive as early as H2 2021.

Back in April 2020, Giuseppe Spinelli (aka Snoreyn) in collaboration with LetsGoDigital produced a concept render that may well bear semblance to a future PS5 Slim console. Snoreyn had also designed the DualSense Controller in multiple colors and it looks striking in purple, red, and black versions. It would be just great if Sony can actually consider offering the DualSense Controller in a few other color variants as well.

While Snoreyn's original concept was already turning eyeballs, LetsGoDigital had partnered with Concept Creator on another such PS5 Slim concept. The PS5 Slim concepts so far have emphasized a more pedestrian design with just the right amount of blue LED strips on the sides. The venting is primarily on the top bezel with the front panel housing USB connectivity.

While a hardware refresh is likely, it is not exactly clear when we will see it happening. For perspective, the PlayStation 4 Slim arrived three years after the base PlayStation 4 console was launched and was shortly followed by the PlayStation 4 Pro the very same year.

With the PlayStation 5 being currently plagued by supply woes and several reported hardware issues including noisy fans, hot memory modules, and malfunctioning adaptive triggers, Sony may actually look to diversify the portfolio and could offer the PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro sooner than the norm in order to boost sales while also improving certain aspects of the hardware.

Xbox, on the other hand, already has a slim Series S, but fans would no doubt be interested in having a slimmer version of the Series X as well. Given the Xbox's current cooling design, however, it remains to be seen how Microsoft can pull it off (if it really intends to) without sacrificing performance.

Ultimately, all this is a possibility only when component supply constraints ease.

Corrigendum: The original article incorrectly attributed the PS5 Slim concept to @Ps5_News. The original concept creator was Snoreyn in collaboration with LetsGoDigital. The article has been amended to reflect the same while also adding a mention on Ikea's new Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 sizing guides. Readers may kindly note.

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