In brief: While plenty of details about the PlayStation 5's hardware have already been revealed, we still don't know anything about the console's external design. But a patent filed by Sony might give us an idea of what to expect.
The patent was another discovered by Dutch tech site LetsGoDigital. The "Sony electronic device" was registered on August 13 after Sony applied for the patent in May this year, and while the listing doesn't specify, the device is likely a PlayStation 5 development kit.
As we know from console history, development kits can sometimes look very different from the final consumer products. But while they're often a lot chunkier, dev kits tend to include design elements that make it into the final versions.
The most striking part of this machine is the V-shaped ventilation cutout in the center. It could be a reference to the roman numeral V, or five, which obviously aligns with this being the PlayStation 5.
Elsewhere, the patent shows quite a few USB ports for controllers, and what are presumably a power button and eject button for the disc drive.
Sony has revealed that its next PlayStation will see a significant performance jump compared to its current PS4 offerings. The next-gen machine will feature an eight-core AMD processor based on third-gen Ryzen, a solid-state drive, and custom Radeon Navi graphics. All that power could explain the large number of vents on the patent.
There's no guarantee the PlayStation 5 will look anything like this listing, of course, but the timing is suspect. We'll find out for certain when the console finally arrives, which will almost certainly be late next year.