If you’ve been having some difficulties securing a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X, you definitely aren’t alone. In the run-up to Christmas, supply was disappointingly scarce, with new consoles selling out pretty much the minute they went in stock anywhere. For the PlayStation 5, at least, we might see these stock woes ease in the new year – at least assuming a new report is to be believed.
According to DigiTimes (via Gematsu), Sony managed to ship 3.4 million PlayStation 5 units worldwide in the console’s first four weeks of availability, which is definitely an impressive number. The PlayStation 5 was released in the US, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and New Zealand on November 12th, while it made its way to Europe and other regions of the world on November 19th. Importantly, that figure leaves out the final couple of weeks before Christmas, so it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that total PS5 shipments are slightly higher now.
Of course, the PS5 is selling out as quickly as Sony and its manufacturing partners can produce stock, but it seems that production will be getting a boost in the new year as well. DigiTimes’ report also says that PS5 production is expected to reach 16.8 to 18 million units in 2021, which will be helped by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) giving AMD more foundry capacity to produce the PS5’s CPU.
The hope is that with this additional foundry capacity, downstream production will be able to ramp up as well. While PS5 stock will still be hard to come by in the coming weeks and months, it may not be too much longer before stock begins to catch up with demand – assuming, of course, that DigiTimes’ report (which is based on claims from “industry sources”) is accurate.
For now, though, the PS5 is very hard to come by, and even though we’re officially on the other side of the holiday shopping season, we don’t expect stock woes to ease for a little while at least. If you’re trying to secure a console for yourself, be sure to check out our tips and tricks guide for beating the scalpers, bots, and your regular human competition.
Keyword: PS5 consoles may soon be a lot easier to buy