Redditor makes a handheld PS4 and it's a thing of beauty - with one notable compromise

A modder has built their own handheld PlayStation 4 and showcased the impressive results on Reddit for all to see.

Tom's Hardware spotted the project from Redditor 'wewillmakeitnow' who posted the portable creation - built from a PS4 Slim - across various subreddits, including r/handheld.

How do you fit a PS4 inside a 3D-printed handheld shell? Well, it isn't easy, and as you might guess, there's some shrinking required, primarily with the motherboard which was cut back to make it more compact, but obviously without removing anything critical to its functionality.

There's a whole new cooling system inside the chassis, along with an ESP32 microcontroller to facilitate temperature monitoring and safety shutdowns (if the thermals spike too badly). You've got a 130Wh battery for power and a 7-inch OLED on top (featuring a 1080p resolution).

The maker has used the buttons and sticks from a DualShock controller, and there are lots of smart touches here. Apparently the battery life will give you around 3 hours, at least with less demanding gaming, but with more taxing titles, you're looking at 1.5 hours or maybe a bit less.

The custom PS4 handheld also has an HDMI output, so you can hook it up to a TV and use it like a normal console, as well as playing games on the go.

Slick, but a brick?

You may not be keen on the ergonomics, and some of the denizens of Reddit are calling it a brick, which is harsh - but not without some truth. Apparently the creator experimented with prototypes that featured more rounded corners, which were nicer to hold - but the problem was that those models had to be made wider, and heftier, to accommodate the design.

So ultimately, the Redditor decided that this was a compromise they weren't willing to go with, hence the rather harsh looking angles. Clearly, it was never going to be easy to fit a PS4 motherboard into a handheld case and keep it portable enough to be usable.

On top of that, the device looks usable enough from the footage shared on Reddit, although admittedly it does weigh almost 1.5kg.

The Redditor notes that they've recorded the making of this handheld, with several hours of footage that needs to be gone through and edited down. Eventually we may get a 'making of' video, then, which would be interesting to see for anyone who's thinking about following in these footsteps.

This project has been quite some time in development, with the Redditor posting about the making of this PS4 handheld back in October 2025, where they observed that work had started some months back - so it could have taken half a year, or perhaps longer, to get this device finished.