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PSP vs. iPhone: Is the PlayStation Portable now obsolete?

PSP vs. iPhone: Is the PlayStation Portable now obsolete?

By: Peter Chubb | December 20, 2008 | 7 Comments

Portable gaming has changed over the years, and the best of the bunch for graphics has to be the Sony PSP. However something else has come along which has been challenging the PlayStation Portable and that is the Apple iPhone. The funny thing is, the iPhone 3G was not developed as a portable games console, but with the many gaming apps available, the iPhone has certainly made a few people change their mind about the bigger and bulky PSP.

Apple are having to play catch up with the PSP in the gaming market, but the iPhone and iPod Touch have certainly ruffled a few feathers over at Sony. This is not the first time that Apple have tried to enter the market with a dedicated console, can anyone remember the Pippin.

We do have to remember that the Apple iPhone is not a dedicated portable games console, and it is for that reason that people love playing games on it so much. I have never wanted to own a PlayStation Portable for two reasons, the size of the thing. The PSP is not on the large size, but it is still something extra to carry around, and I also find the controls uncomfortable.

My Apple iPhone is something totally different, I did not purchase it for the games side of things, I wanted the phone as it had so many other things going for it. When Apple launched the App Store, that is when the iPhone 3G started to change a few peoples mind about the Sony PSP, as you could now play some great games on a device that you always carry around with you, which makes you ask the question, is the PlayStation Portable now obsolete?

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  • http://www.scea.com Ivan_PSP

    Are you mental the PSP blows away any competitor with games like GTA SOCOM God of War Daxter Ratchet and Clank Metal Gear Solid and many more soon. Also the abilities to view high quality videos and photos listen to music web browsing custom firmware themes awesome graphics great control sexy design Skype RSS. PSP is the entertainment world in your hands. You can buy a 16GB Memory Stick. Apple sucks for gaming Apple Apps are all useless…

  • TheHighlander

    Well, let’s see….for shovel-ware games such as bejeweled Apple’s glorified phone is quite fine. But I don’t see titles like God of War Chains of Olympus coming out on it.

    The iFawn will, like many phones before it, be used for over priced casual games.

    The PSP has until recently been saddled with 99% of all games coming on UMD only. However the advent of affordable 8GB memory sticks, downloadable games from PSN, direct PSP access to PSN and DVD/BD releases with Digital copy it would seem that the PSP is more than well placed to continue to do well.

    Frankly I think this fawning over Apple’s phone as a gaming device has more to do with Apple wanting to re-define their device. Nintendo and Sony have ruled hand held gaming and phones don’t count as hand held gaming devices. However if Apple can redefine the iFawn as a gaming device, then they can count every iFawn sold as if it was a hand held game console. Thus they suddenly have great sales in hand held gaming and mobile phones. In truth though, it’s not a gaming device, it’s a phone that plays games. So is my Motorola KRZR, and the RAZR I had before that.

    iFawn is a phone, not a competitor for DS or PSP.

  • Dan

    Are you two mental? yes although the psp has more game variety that is just because its been on the market far longer than the iphone. But based on raw processing power and graphical capabilities the psp doesn’t stand a chance .

    PSP
    -333mhz
    -Ram 32mb

    Iphone
    -412mhz
    -Ram 128mb

    All the iphone needs now is a third party game pad (which according to sources is already in production) and the iphone is set to dominate the portable gaming industry.

    The iphone also has a touch screen. Plus its Application store is virtually everywhere this would make downloading apps/games really quickly and fast. The psp has no chance to compete unless sony releases a psp 4000 and outdos the iphone.

  • RAZOR

    How can u ppl even compare iphone to PSP slim and lite though its a bit bulky b8 still it has far better features dan d iphone better grapics many titles to choose 4m and u can here songs watch movies nd u can even play games wit others vi game sharing!!!!iphone is not even a complete multimedia phone 2mp camera no bluetooth nd yea its very expensive seeing its features nokia 5610 is fat better!!iphone does hav some intresting games b8 stilll i bet 90 on 100 will choose PSP 4 gameing purpose!!!!

  • TheHighlander

    @Dan

    Mental? No. Professional Geek? Yes.

    PSP was designed from the groupnd up to be a game unit. The entire hardware configuration in the PSP is designed specifically around gaming and media, not being a phone.

    PSP’s CPU is actyually two cores plus it has a custom GPU specifically for gaming. There is also 4MB of embedded DRAM (though some say it also has 2MB of dedicated VRAM for the GPU as well).

    The PSP is specifically designed for the purpose of playing games hence the control layout and analog stick. I-Fawn is a phone first and foremost, a browser second and a wannabe game console as a consequence of being a pretty good jack of all trades PDA lite.

    If Apple made one with appropriate controls, it would be a sweet piece of hardware, especially with th ARM chip, but in it’s current configuration it’s not in any danger of out classing the PSP.

    The DS on the other hand is more than in danger considering that the PSP has about as many buttons as the fairly poorly provided for DS as well as having the much vaunted touch screen capability that the DS has. Of course unlike the DS the I-Fawn can browse, is a phone and can do photos, video and music right out of the box, rather like the PSP can. The DS on the other hand needs an add on to do web browsing, and needs a hardware add on to accept any Flash memory or play music or video or display pictures.

    If I was looking at the hand held market and a device that the I-Phone can easily and completely dominate, I would be looking more to the DS than the PSP. With the PSP it’s more of a wash.

  • Lol

    Dude. The Iphone has the potential, but not the system. THe thing is that in portable gaming, you can’t go much more powerful than the PSP. So, suppose Apple made the software and the keys or some way around it, the only problem would be, which is more expensive? The people who want a gaming device will still go for the PSP or DS because there is an extreme difference in the price. Second, with this new system Apple will have to build, it will very likely need a new game format, so, this means that gaming companies will have to get Apple specialists to make games for their format, which simply, gaming companies will very likely not do. In other words all Iphone games would be made by non-professionals or the titles will not be big. Gaming companies aleready have to generate PSP, PC, and PS3, even maybe DS game formats, which is quite a lot. And so, not many ‘known’ games will appear on the Iphone, as a gaming console. It also is a bad move for them to do that for the fact that there aren’t many Iphone users around the globe, which will only make them little money compared to the money they would make if they sold it as a PSP game. I hope I make my point clear that the Iphone might be more popular, yet it is not popular as a gaming console, and it would be a bad move for any gaming console to make Iphone games…

  • Jake

    Are you serious here? The iPhone may have more RAM, but you can’t compare their CPUs by only mhz… They are both different architectures… one designed for gaming, the other for media managing… Is a 2ghz Pentium the same as a 2ghz Intel Celeron? Do some research!