The ongoing rumours that Sony may currently be working on a ’slim’ version of their Playstation 3 have seemingly gained further strength. Taiwan’s DigiTimes say that Sony has recently “placed significant orders for key Sony PS3 components” from local manufacturing companies. What’s interesting about this news is that the quantities are far greater than the orders that Sony normally place.

Apparently Sony have ordered enough parts to produce one million PS3 consoles in the third quarter of this year, which is double the average of the last quarter.

Of course, Sony may only be ramping up production because of expectation for a higher demand for PS3’s in the next quarter (demand is pretty low at the moment), especially as Christmas is included in the financial quarter and there are a number of big games hitting in the months leading up to it. Another reason for the increase is that Sony are about to discontinue the 80GB model in Japan, leaving Japan open for the 160GB model that the country has yet to receive (the model is already available in PAL and NTSC territories).

So, when you consider the two reasons above does the PS3 ‘Slim’ rumour actually have any legs? Well, there were the so-called ‘leaked’ photos of a prototype from Taiwan. Ars Technica speculated that we would see the new model during either August or September, citing their ‘trusty inside source’. Finally the Amazon.de retailer posted a listing for a PS3 ‘Slim’, although this was later removed from the site.

All we really know is that based on the smaller versions of both the Playstation and Playstation 2 – and now the PSP in the form of the PSP Go - it would be a bit strange for Sony not to take the same route with their current generation console. Anything else is just pure speculation at best. In any case, a price drop is what most people want at the moment and not a revamped console. Obviously if Sony follow the price cutting trend of the ‘slim’ versions of their older consoles then a price drop would be inevitable anyway; just don’t expect it to fall below £200 anytime soon.

Sony PS3 components demand growing significantly - DigiTimes

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