The PlayStation 5 has been relatively free of controversy, with no significant malfunctions so far that have been reported by several users. However, repair shops are now coming out to say placing PS5 consoles vertically increases the chance of a cooling system failure even if Sony markets the hardware for both vertical and horizontal use.
According to the reports, a fatal design flaw doesn't prevent gravity from displacing the liquid metal used to cool the APU (the Accelerated Processing Unit from AMD). Eventually, this leads to spillage that, in the worst-case scenario, can short circuit the entire console.
The news came to light after Twitter user 68Logic, a hardware shop owner from France, took to the social media platform to share the problem he has seen in consoles from multiple clients. He claims that in most cases, the liquid metal used to cool the APU (the Accelerated Processing Unit from AMD) will be pressed too tightly together for gravity to be a problem. Most of the 30 million PS5 owners will probably never face this issue, but if a user somehow damages the seal or if it's moved, the metal can reportedly become uneven or even spill in the future. Not only would this immediately affect the efficiency of the cooling system that may result in noisy fans trying to compensate and unexpected shutdowns as the console overheats, but it could also be a death sentence.