PlayStation Portal: Sony's latest game streaming console is powered by a mid-range Qualcomm SoC

The PlayStation Portal, Sony's glorified Remote Play handheld, is now available commercially. Fans and enthusiasts have questioned its existence, as it caters to an ultra-niche audience due to its inability to run games locally. It couldn't even if it wanted to, thanks to a data miner who figured out what makes it tick, and it's pretty underwhelming. The administrator of the Japanese website Emuonpsp.com has determined that the PlayStation Portal runs a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC.

It is evidenced by an on-device screenshot which references the SoC by its codename "Bengal". Unlike the Nintendo Switch (US$347 on Amazon) which uses an in-house OS, the handheld appears to be running a heavily modified version of Android, in this case, Android 13. Then again, this has been common knowledge since well before the PlayStation Portal hit shelves.

This opens up a world of new possibilities for the PlayStation Portal modding community, which is understandably in its infancy now. Additionally, @emuonpsp also discovered that the device comes with an integrated USB hub with four connections. It is only a matter of time before the PlayStation Portal is jailbroken, and it'll be interesting to see what it is capable of as a standalone device. A functional web browser and Bluetooth audio would be nice additions, for starters.