As well as being lighter and greener, the newly revealed PS3 model will feature updated security, according to reports.
Speaking under conditions of anonymity, "a well-placed industry source" told GamerTell that the system will feature a new layer of copy protection not on the motherboard as with exiting models but inside the Blu-ray drive itself, similar to the Xbox 360.
The site suggests there'll likely be some kind of watermark on genuine PS3 discs that the drive looks for to prevent new consoles from running copied games.
The new hardware may be accompanied by a PS3 price drop in time for September's Tokyo Game Show, GamerTell adds.