I think an underrated thing to consider for this next gen of consoles is just how different the console landscape was in 2013 compared to 2020.
In 2013 - It's hard to remember, but there was a lot of doom and gloom talk about the future of consoles. I think both Microsoft and PlayStation played it "safe" from a power standpoint and were not as willing to take on initial losses per unit sold. PlayStation took the risk of more power and cheaper price and it paid off tenfold.
Contrast that to 2020 - PSN and Xbox Live profits have increased exponentially and are a driver of record profits. Digital distribution, the increased acceptance of recurring subscriptions and perpetual monetization (just pointing out a reality, not that this is good for consumers) and just the overall "health" of the industry is in a different world than in 2013. The assumption is that there is MASSIVE money to be made in the console gaming arena in the near future.
All this is to say that it is IMPERATIVE to attempt to lock down users in a consoles ecosystem. Losing money on the initial hardware sale, especially on a "hardcore" buyer considering purchasing a console at launch, will almost assuredly be a great "bet" to make if you factor in the likely years of subscription costs and the likely substantial amount of purchases they'll make via their consoles ecosystem over multiple years.
The early years of the Xbox One were plagued for many reasons, but I think chief among them was the Xbox being dragged at basically every multi-platform release from a power differential. I just don't see either Xbox or PlayStation putting themselves in such a position this time around. The recent "leaked" differential between the PS5 and Series X I just don't buy for a myriad of reasons. Chief among them, PS5 "playing it safe" by going for a less powerful and likely less loss per unit sold would be, in my opinion, extremely risky. That would be playing the short game rather than the long game.
To sum it all up - I think Xbox and PlayStation are going to be wayyy more willing to take a loss on initial console sales and will offer much more powerful consoles this time around. I totally see them both being 12+ TF's and less than $500. The rumored "slight" power differential of 10-15% sounds about right to me as well.
