Unlike the PS4 and the PS3, the PS5 doesn't have a web browser. Chances are, you never used your PS4's browser app to check Facebook or order groceries – but it was pretty useful if you wanted to, say, watch a video on your TV that wasn't on YouTube or any of the supported apps.
The PS5, though, won't have one because Sony isn't convinced you need one in a games console. And you know what? This is pretty much right, especially in an age of smartphones – though it would've been nice to have one anyway.
The news aggregation Twitter account Nibellion quotes a Japanese interview with outlet AV Watch, where Sony's Hideaki Nishino says: "We have doubts about whether a web browser is necessary for a game console as an app, so we'll have to wait and see." There are no plans to include a web browser right now, Nishino reportedly says.
Nishino on the lack of a web browser on PS5:"Currently, we don't intend to include a web browser in PS5.""We have doubts about whether a web browser is necessary for a game console as an app, so we'll have to wait and see." pic.twitter.com/YB0jiuajdrNovember 10, 2020
The same interview notes that the lack of 1440p resolution support on PS5 is due to TVs being the highest priority.
Does it matter?
Sony likely based the decision not to release a web browser for PS5 on how much usage the PS4's browser got. It's not a killer feature for a console, or anything, but it's been a nice little extra Sony has included going back to the PS3's original launch in 2006.
Xbox, meanwhile, includes Microsoft Edge as standard, in case web browsers really are a deal breaker for you when it comes to next-gen.
- All the PS5 games we know about
