Reports: PS5 Production Will Nearly Double Toward the End of 2020

Two individual reports have emerged this morning about Sony's production plans for the PlayStation 5 later this year. The two reports both claim that Sony will ramp up production numbers of the PS5 for sale in late 2020 and early 2021, although the exact numbers of units produced differ slightly.

First to report the increase from Sony in PS5 production numbers was Nikkei earlier today. The report states that PS5 production numbers will increase from 6 million to nearly 9 million, the former number being the milestone that Sony had planned out earlier this year in April.

Bloomberg's report released slightly after, and had a bit more detail on the PS5 production numbers. The report states that Sony plans to produce 10 million PS5 units by the end of 2020, but some of those units will won't actually be going on sale until early 2021, so they're not all for sale when the console launches near the of 2020.

Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad weighed in on the reported increase in PS5 units, saying that it shows Sony expects "strong demand both at launch and through 2021." Ahmad provided some additional context for the 10 million PS5 units, referencing the current console generation launch period, when Sony sold 4.5 million PS4 units by the end of 2013, and Microsoft sold 3.9 million Xbox One units by the end of the same year.

Taking the new reports and Ahmad's context into account, it seems as though Sony is fairly confident that the PS5 will outsell the PS4. The PS4 sold 4.5 million units in the remainder of the year when it launched on November 13, and even if Sony holds back half of their 10 million units for 2021, that's still around five million units for sale in the remainder of 2020 when the new console launches in holiday 2020.

In other words, although there was talk of shortages of PS5 units for later this year when the console launches, if these new reports are true they appear to dispel that talk. We'll have to wait and see though, as Sony has yet to even announce the price or release date of the PS5.