Uhhh...not sure how I'm going "console warrior" on you? Just saying this makes no sense. Two SKU's like that is NOT the best of both worlds from what we've seen in the market thus far. Far from it. If anything, the market history shows that with the right games and marketing, the LOWER END is where it makes sense to be. That's not what hardcore folks like us probably want (for the most part). Like I said, I'd gladly buy some high end $800 box, but the mass market WOULD NOT and has shown repeatedly that this is the case.
So really, I would see either or both companies putting out a high and low end SKU simply resulting in low sales for the high end and more sales for the low. That's not a win.
Has anyone considered the possibility that MS simply keeps the XoX as their 'low end' box while releasing the new? They've already said games will work on all platforms for at least some time. This gives them a lower end SKU without additional R&D. I still think it means that the XoX would represent the vast bulk of their sales, but....
Sony could do the same thing by simply keeping the PS4 or PS4 Pro alive, but again, I think it would just drive the vast majority of their sales to that end and make the PS5 sales languish. Plus, there's less margin on a low end product line a lot of times and if that's the case, it could severely impact profits for whichever company tries to do this.
I don't think it's happening. I don't think MS is planning on two SKU's. Not right now. I think if anything, those rumors (for both companies) were based on them planning on two possible targets for next gen boxes...a mid range type of box and a high end. But we'll see.