In light of the growing popularity and trend of gaming handhelds, a modder in the DIY console modding scene recently showed off the fruit of their labour, having “successfully” transformed their Sony PlayStation 4 Slim (PS4 Slim) by shrinking down just enough to fit into the palms of their hands.
The DIY project was posted on the subreddit r/Handhelds by wewillmakeitnow, and reportedly took months for them to get it to the stable build that allows the “handheld” to be fully functional and safe to use. Note that they did not say final, as they also explain in their Reddit post that this was a passion project and a personal engineering challenge, suggesting that further tweaks to the design and overall build could be made to it, in time. So, if you were hoping for mass production, you’re out of luck.
How The Franken-Handheld Is Made
wewillmakeitnow gave a list (sort of) of the components that he used and, obviously, reused, in the making of the PS4 handheld. It’s a bit messy, but we’ve cleared it up the best we can and made bullet points of it below:
- Miniaturised PS4 Slim motherboard: The original motherboard was carefully studied, then cut and modified to make it as compact as possible, while keeping full functionality. The goal was not only size reduction, but also better power efficiency and thermal behaviour by optimising the layout and removing unused sections.
- Redesigned cooling system Optimized airflow and heatsinks with active temperature management to properly handle the PS4 APU under load.
- Integrated ESP32 microcontroller (custom firmware) Used for: Real-time temperature monitoring, Safety management (thermal thresholds, emergency shutdown), Power consumption monitoring, and battery charging supervision
- 7-inch OLED display – 1080p (16:9) High image quality, excellent contrast, and low latency.
- HDMI output allows the console to be connected to an external TV like a standard PS4.
- Battery system & autonomy: 6× 21700 cells – 6000 mAh each (3S2P configuration) • Approximate energy: ~130 Wh
- Estimated runtime: Low / medium load (~4 A) → ~44 W consumption → ≈ 2.7–3 hours of gameplay
- High load / demanding games (~8 A) → ~88 W consumption → ≈ 1.3–1.5 hours (System performs a safe shutdown at ~10 V to protect the battery.)
Breaking down the connectivity, wewillmakeitnow says that they managed to fit an HDMI output port, three USB-C ports, an ESP32 microcontroller, a port for console charging, one direct connector port, either for a controller or external drive; a USB-A 3.0 port, and a dedicated port for playing while plugged into AC power.
Off the wall, the Redditor says that their PS4 handheld can give up to three hours of gameplay, and that’s with an average power consumption of 44W, which they claim is the low to medium operating load.
For more demanding titles, they say that the handheld caps out after 1.5 hours, and a failsafe they put in shuts down the console at approximately 10V, to protect the battery.
Sadly, wewillmakeitnow only provides pictures of their handheld, and there’s no video footage of it running.
Gaming Handheld Fever
The rise in DIY gaming handhelds, especially those of the PlayStation variety, likely kicked off after rumours that the Sony PlayStation 6 would launch as a handheld within the next couple of years. Sony has yet to verify this rumour, but if it turns out to be true, it is possible that the brand is either jumping onto the bandwagon again or simply folding under pressure.
We say again because, lest we forget, it wouldn’t be Sony’s first foray into the world of portable gaming handhelds – The PlayStation Portable or PSP first came into the market in 2004, followed by the PS Vita in 2011, the latter arguably being a portable console way ahead of its time. More recently, there’s also the PS Portal, but that’s more a device that allows PS5 owners to stream their content from the console, rather than a standalone device to bring your games on the go.
And as we’ve pointed out in another article, Sony would have no shortage of the technology needed to make said console. Since the PS4, the custom APU inside their consoles are created in partnership with AMD. Further, both companies announced back in October last year that they were working on bringing AMD’s latest Radeon graphics technology to the next-generation console.
Also, this isn’t the first time a modder has made a gaming handheld of the PS4. Some of you may remember back in 2024, another modder known by their YouTube handle, Restore Technique, had their own version of a PS4 gaming handheld. Unlike wewillmakeitnow, though, Restore Technique’s DIY console at least had the analogue sticks in the right orientation, and not the Xbox layout. A design that, as per one of our colleagues’ descriptions, “isn’t worth the thumb dislocation”. Seriously, he really hates the Xbox controller’s layout.
(Source: Reddit)
