PSP-4000 in 2009, PSP2 later

Sony plans to refresh the PlayStation Portable product line with a PSP-4000 model in late 2009 and launch a true successor - a PSP2, if you like - later.

Publishing sources, speaking to Eurogamer, were unable to provide any further detail on next year's update, which will presumably follow this year's PSP-3000 in taking an iterative approach. The PSP-3000 launched this October and followed a 2000-series model, the first Slim & Lite, in September 2007.

Even fewer details were available on the PSP successor, but we're told that developers are already working on games.

Sony has not ruled out either scenario, despite SCEE president David Reeves' assertion in MCV last week that "there are currently no plans for a PSP2". "I go to Tokyo quite a lot and no one has referred to it - I think they have their hands full at the moment," he said, non-committally.

Sony UK told Eurogamer today that it would not comment on rumour and speculation.

PSP-3000 bundles currently retail for GBP 129.99 the UK following its October launch, and despite sporadic software support and fewer platform-exclusives than Nintendo's DS, strong sales in Japan have propelled it to sales of over 30 million according to Sony's corporate sales website.