Sony’s PS5 handheld is called PlayStation Portal. And the price will surprise you

Back in May Sony unveiled Project Q, a PS5 handheld gaming console that enables you to stream PlayStation 5 games to a portable screen. Now the handheld console has a name – PlayStation Portal.

PlayStation lead Jim Ryan said it was “internally known” by the Project Q name. But it was always going to have a full launch name – PlayStation Portal is it.

We also have a price and it’s somewhat pleasing at $200/$200/220 Euros. We had expected it to be a lot higher than that, possibly even $100/£100 more.

• PlayStation Portal specs and all the details we have so far

PlayStation Portal will launch in the United States, Europe, and Japan later this year. We don’t have a more concrete release date. Sony adds that pre-order details will be available soon, meaning that we’re surely looking at a late September launch at the very earliest, but more likely it’ll be October we’re thinking.

The device features an 8in LCD display at Full HD resolution, a built-in DualSense controller either side of the screen with all of the same buttons including the adaptive triggers (plus haptic feedback) and a “long-lasting” battery – we still don’t know just how long lasting that will be. The games will be able to run at up to 60fps.

Portal will enable you to play PS5 games on the go. Ryan said that Project Q “enables you to stream any game from your PS5 console using Remote Play over Wi-Fi.”

So in other words, the games need to be installed on your PS5 – and it says a 15Mbps Wi-Fi connection will be required. There’s no sign of Portal being compatible with a streaming service at present.

Other new PlayStation devices

There will also be some new PlayStation Buds launching later this year, too; they can connect to any Bluetooth devices and will deliver lossless audio. They’re clearly intended to be used with the handheld, the handheld will surely be compatible with any Bluetooth devices anyway.

Rumours about a new PS5 handheld called ‘Q Lite’ appeared earlier this year and a lot of the details from those leaks like the display and the compatibility with Remote Play were accurate.

• More on future PS5-related gear, including PS5 Pro and Slim

Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home