Sony Files A Patent Application For A Disc Drive Mechanism, Fueling New PS5 Model Rumors

Sony has filed a patent application for a new disc drive, fueling rumours that the company is working on a PS5 with a removable disc drive.

Last year it was reported that Sony is possibly working on a version of the PS5 that has a detachable disc drive, sometime in 2023. We haven't really heard any more about that since then, but a patent application from Sony regarding a new disc drive has just been made public, potentially providing more evidence that a new version of the console is in the works (via SegmentNext). The patent application itself doesn't mention the PS5, though it does make reference to a "game machine," and does closely resemble the disc drive the console already does use.

It's believed that this model has been in development since the launch of the PS5 in 2020, and the patent application appears to have been filed in late March 2021, just a few months after the console was released. The initial report of the new model claimed that this supposed disc drive will be able to connect to the PS5 via a USB-C port on the back of the console, with the possibility of buying the console on its own and then the disc drive separately, or bundled together.

This potential new model isn't the only new PS5 model in development, as a report from earlier this year claimed that a PS5 Pro is in development, apparently aiming for a 2024 release. The PS5 isn't even three years old yet, and was notoriously difficult to acquire up until recently, but the PS4 Pro only came out three years after the original PS4, so a PS5 Pro releasing in 2025 wouldn't be entirely unsurprising.