Going by a recent report by Japan’s Impress Watch website, for its rumored PlayStation 4 (PS4), Sony is seemingly “looking to alternatives to the PS3’s Cell architecture,” for which it might also consider the Cell processor’s modified, upgraded edition.

The reported move by Sony most likely comes after its increasing dissatisfaction on a developer level. While Sony had earlier decided to use Intel’s Larrabee GPGPU together with the Cell in its next-generation console, PS4, it later thought otherwise because of concerns over low power efficiency and 3D graphics pipeline performance.

In case Sony decides to go in for a revised version of the Cell processor, SPUs will gain a direct access to the main memory, thereby enabling programmers to program for a single memory space, easing the overall process.

However, with Sony console’s rival, Microsoft Xbox 360, boasting a PC-like multi-core environment, Sony needs to give the upgraded Cell version a second thought.

Though it is quite likely that Sony is working on new designs that feature a multicore CPU, experts opine that a next-gen PS may not come before 2012, and might even take till 2014 – the reason being that not only the designing and ultimate production of a brand new machine a time-consuming process, but also that the customers require some time to familiarize themselves with each new generation device.