As the current-gen of consoles has already seen the PS4 upgraded and overtaken by the PS4 Pro just a few years ago, fans may be sceptical as to just how large the jump between the two generations is.
With the PS5's release on the horizon, you may be wondering whether it's worth upgrading to next-gen, especially as many games are still releasing on the PS4.
READ MORE: How much will PS5 games cost in the UK? Will Xbox Series X Games be cheaper than PS5 games?
However, there are many differences between the two consoles. Here are the main ones.
PS4 vs PS5 Console Design
Both the Xbox Series X and PS5 departed from the design of their predecessors pretty significantly.
The PS5 opted for a two-tone black and white design, in contrast to the traditional all-black colour scheme of the PS4 and PS3.
The PS5 is also significantly larger than the PS4, which will hopefully help to prevent the console from overheating and overworking its fans.
PS4 vs PS5 Games
While upcoming titles such as NBA 2K21, FIFA 21 and Cyberpunk 2077will be available on both the PS4 and PS5, this support won't last forever.
The PS5 is already hoarding exclusive titles that are sequels to the best PS4 games, including Horizon: Forbidden West and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Most PS4 games will also work on the PS5 at launch, with Sony confirming in a blog post they "believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5.”
However, for games that do come out on both consoles, it appears that next-gen games will be more expensive than those on the PS4 or Xbox One. This is based on the prices of NBA 2K21, which has an RRP of £59.99 for the PS4, and £64.99 for the PS5.
READ MORE: Will PS5 games work on PS4? Sony says PlayStation 4 will NOT support PlayStation 5 games
PS4 vs PS5 Specs
This is where the differences really start to make a difference.
We'll keep it simple here, but the PS5 boasts a significant CPU upgrade over the PS4 and PS4 Pro, with its cores running at up to 3.6GHz compared to the 1.6GHz in the base PS4.
Aside from this, the PS5 boasts a huge 10.3 Teraflop GPU compared to the PS4's 1.84.
It also has 16GBs of memory compared to the PS4's 8GB, and can be output in 4K, a feature missing from the PS4 (but included with the PS4 Pro).
The PS5's 825GB custom SSD also offers a huge improvement on the PS4's HDD. The custom SSD has fully optimised the bandwidth of the read/write speeds, allowing for even faster loading times.
PS4 vs PS5 Controller
PlayStation controllers have always stood out from the rather safe designs of the Xboxcontroller. The new DualSense controller, however, seems to be moving further towards the standard controller design compared to the DualShock.
Aside from the differences in colour, the DualSense opts for a more ergonomic design than its predecessor.
It also comes with a bunch of new features.
Haptic Feedback will replace the basic rumble of a PS4 controller, immersing players further into the gameplay by giving different kinds of feedback for separate activities such as wading through water.
The DualSense's adaptive triggers offer a similar experience but for aspects such as firing a bow or shooting a gun.
Aside from these two new features, the DualSense will include a built-in microphone and motion controls and uses USB-C to charge.
Which is better?
There's no doubt about it, the PS5 is the better console. This is no surprise given the amount of progress made by gaming technology over the past five years.
Whether you buy a PS5 at launch, however, does not just depend on if the PS5 is better than the PS4. All this new technology comes at a high price, and while we do not yet know the cost of the next-gen consoles, we expect it won't be cheap.
READ MORE: Will there be a PS5 Pro at launch?
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