PlayStation 3 Slim

2009, August 18

Following months of speculation, Sony officially unveiled the "Slim" hardware revision (model CECH-2000) on August 18, 2009, during its Gamescom press conference, and it was released in major territories by September 2009. This model featured a significantly slimmer and lighter chassis, reduced power consumption, and a quieter cooling system. These improvements were made possible in part by transitioning to smaller fabrication processes for the system's CPU and GPU. The manufacturing changes reportedly reduced production costs by about 70 percent. Nevertheless, due to the console's simultaneous price reduction to US$299, Sony was still estimated to be losing around US$37 per unit at launch, with losses per unit reduced to approximately US$18 by early 2010.