Moles say Sony will kill Cell CPU for PlayStation 4

AMD Fusion the chosen successor?

Sony's PlayStation 4 will not use the PS3's Cell processor, it has been claimed, because the current chipset and rumoured next-gen variants are too complex for developers to work with quickly.

Industry sources indicated that the Cell, which was spearheaded by the now retired Ken Kutaragi, Sony's one-time PlayStation chief, will be dropped altogether as Sony pushes towards a more developer-friendly chipset, Kotaku reports.

Following last week's rumours that AMD will supply the GPU for Sony's as yet unannounced console, speculation about the PS4's innards has already started.

Cell out?

One such theory is that AMD will actually supply both the GPU and the CPU, both of which will utilise the chip company's Fusion architecture to combine these elements on the same chip.

Not only has id Software's John Carmack already dubbed the AMD tech a "forgone conclusion" in the future of computing, but such a move would allow Sony to give developers an already proven platform to work with.

And with rumours flooding in that Microsoft's next-gen console is gearing up for a 2013 release, Sony wouldn't want to be too far behind.

Sony launched the PowerPC-based Cell processor, a "Power Processing Element" combined with eight "Synergistic Processing Elements", for the PS3's release in 2006. ®