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I’m a sucker for a shiny new gaming handheld, especially one of the Sony kind. Nothing quite beats the feeling of binging another re-watch of some cheesy crime shows on your big TV while still being able to catch up on your gaming backlog. To date, the PS Vita is still my absolute favorite portable handheld to play on the go, even beating out my love for the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck. However, without a PS Vita 2 on the horizon, it was inevitable I’d pick up the next best thing instead, the PlayStation Portal.
Already being a proud owner of the PSP, PS Vita, and even the long-forgotten PSVita TV, I knew a PS Portal would one day be mine. That said, with the $200 / £200 price point, and the fact I’ve already been remote-playing my PS5 on Valve’s pixel pusher for a year now, I wasn’t in too much of a rush to pick one up last year. It wasn’t until the announcement that the PS Portal could stream games without relying on your PS5 that I finally added it to my shiny Sony tech collection. But now, with the announcement of the upcoming Midnight Black model, I wish I held out a little longer.
Instead of the dissonance of the Portal’s huge 8-inch screen and its black border clashing with the white on either side of the device, this new version has a more professional-looking edge. The deep, dark black makes the matte plastic finish look more velvety and the whole handheld looks more seamless in design. The device will always be a chonky boy, but somehow the Midnight Black makes it look less obscene, and more like a swanky device you’d want in your collection.
You may just be thinking to yourself, “But Rosalie, isn’t it just the same device but in black instead of white?” And you’d be entirely correct. Even the price point remains the same. But it’s the fact this stunning new colorway will now look the part amongst my other PlayStation hardware that’s grabbed my attention. Ever since the PS5 was announced I was often put off by its white design. Not only is white tech the easiest to get visibly dirty, but it stood out too much from its predecessors. From the PS2 to the PS3 and then the PS4, each of Sony’s consoles originally launched in all black - and now the PS Portal is finally following suit.
To me, ignoring the original PlayStation, black hardware designs and Sony are interwoven with each other, so if I can grab the black versions of Sony tech, I will. Even as I type, my PS5 has swapped its garish white colorway for Dbrand’s Arachnoplates - third-party console covers that now make my pixel-pushing beast look like a perfect Spider-Man homage with its black and red colors. Regrettably, I don’t own the Midnight Black DualSense controller, but I use three other PS5 controllers to avoid using that unpleasant-looking basic white variant.
Most importantly, the Midnight Black PS Portal would look the part next to my beloved PS Vita. Although Sony has let its last major handheld collect dust, it’s still one of my favorite devices to pick up and play and sports a sleek black colorway of its own.
Currently, sitting the Sony handhelds side by side just makes the PS Portal look like an unsightly oddity. The handheld is large enough as it is, but it draws even more attention to itself standing out against not just my PS Vita, but even my Steam Deck, Ayaneo Flip DS, and my plethora of all-black gaming headsets. If I waited for that Midnight Black version, at least my various bits of tech would feel and look more unified as they take up space on my bedside table.
I’m still glad, at least, that I made the step to get a PS Portal of my very own eventually. The often complicated setup of unofficially running remote play through the Steam Deck was a headache I no longer have to deal with, and as a first-party device, I even have the immersion-inducing DualSense haptic tech to enjoy, something Valve’s handheld isn’t capable of. After owning it for a few months, I look forward to nothing else but curling up in bed after a day's work and comfortably playing Persona 3 Reload, or browsing the PS Store for some brand-new deals.
With the new Midnight Black PS Portal launching on February 20, 2025, and pre-orders beginning as soon as January 16, I still wish I held out for just a little longer. Yet, with how notorious I am for feeling the need to own every piece of Sony hardware possible, I wouldn’t put it past myself to look for an excuse to already off-load the white handheld and prioritize some Midnight Black gaming sessions in my future instead.
Check out our PlayStation Portal Midnight Black pre-order hub if you want to grab yourself the new version of Sony's remote player. If you already have a PS Portal at your disposal there are a ton of other peripherals to pair your beloved console with, from the best PS5 controllers to the best PS5 headsets to make the most of your future PlayStation gaming sessions.
