Though Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) has stated quite clearly that the lifespan of the PlayStation 3 will be approximately 10 years (ending in 2016,) Japanese website, PC Watch Impress, claims that the PlayStation 4 could arrive much earlier and that SCE is intent on creating a more developer-friendly cell architecture centred on a multi-core CPU.

PC Watch Impress (via Kotaku ) claims that it takes SCE approximately two years to manufacture new consoles, so the PS4 could even arrive by the end of 2012.

Intel's Larrabee GPGPU was initially rumoured to be included in the development of the PS4 alongside the Cell, but disappointing early performance figures caused Sony to back out of those plans claiming that it wanted "a bit more horsepower."

Sony has been adament that the PS3 will be around for some time, so it's likely that SCE is still just shopping around and making plans for the PS4.

Whatever the case, it seems more likely that we'll see the next generation of hardware spring up from Nintendo, who has already confirmed in 2008 that it is busy working on "Wii 2." Microsoft is likely to follow with a follow-up to the Xbox 360 which has already been around since 2005. It does seem likely, however, that we will see some new hardware appear on the scene in the next couple of years.