PlayStation Vita

Release Date
December 16th 2011
CPU
ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore
Memory
512 MB RAM, 128 MB VRAM
Operating System
PlayStation Vita system software
Storage
1GB internal flash memory, PlayStation Vita Memory Card (4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB)
Sound
Stereo speakers, 3.5 mm headphone jack, Bluetooth
Media
PlayStation Vita Game Card, digital distribution
Connectivity
IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, 3G (3G model only), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
Resolutions
960 x 544

Platform Variations
PCH-1000
December 16th 2011

PlayStation Vita's design was created to meld the experience of big budget, dedicated video game platforms with the then up-and-coming trend of mobile gaming through smart phones and tablets. However, in the year after the device's successful launch, sales of the hardware and its bigger budget games stalled, threatening to end its lifespan. A concentrated effort to attract smaller, indie developers in the West, combined with strong support from mid-level Japanese companies, helped keep the platform afloat. While this led to less diversity in its game library, it did garner strong support in Japanese-developed role-playing video games and visual novels alongside a wealth of Western-developed indie games, leading it to become a moderate seller in Japan, and build a smaller, yet passionate userbase in the West. While Sony has not released exact sales figures, late-lifespan estimates in sales fall around 15 to 16 million units. In the platform's later years, Sony also promoted its ability to work in conjunction with its other gaming products, notably the ability to play PlayStation 4 games on it through the process of Remote Play, similar to the Wii U's function of Off-TV Play. Production of the system ended on March 1, 2019, while its physical cartridge games are scheduled to end production by March 31, 2019.

PCH-2000
May 5th 2014

The revised model, officially called the PCH-2000 series and commonly referred to as the PS Vita Slim, is 20% thinner and 15% lighter compared to the original model. While it largely maintains the original's overall structure and layout, the original's OLED screen has been replaced with a lower-cost LCD display. The model also roughly added about an extra hour of battery life. The newer model also comes with 1 GB of internal storage memory, although it is not possible to use both the internal memory and memory card concurrently. Upon inserting a PS Vita memory card, the system will offer to copy the existing data from the internal memory to the new card. This model has a micro USB Type B port, which can be used to charge the device along with any standard micro USB cable. The model was released in six colors in Japan (white, black, light blue, lime green, pink, and khaki), although it was only released in black and light blue in North America and Europe.

PlayStation TV
October 13th 2014

PlayStation TV (abbreviated to PS TV), known in Japan and other parts of Asia as the PlayStation Vita TV or PS Vita TV, is a microconsole, and a non-handheld variant of the PlayStation Vita. Controlled with either the DualShock 3 or DualShock 4 controllers, the PS TV is capable of playing many PS Vita games and applications, either through physical game cards or downloaded through the PlayStation Store. However, not all content is compatible with the device, since certain features in the PS Vita such as the gyroscope and microphone are not available on the PS TV. Nevertheless, the PS TV is able to emulate touch input for both the Vita's front and rear touchpads using the controller.