Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean it won't happen. With a ton of games coming out just for new gen starting next year it is time to introduce a new model to satiate the crowd that wants the extra power and wants to own the latest hardware.
This would be bad. There's a ton of current gen only games coming out, therefore causing people to buy current gen only consoles
now. We are getting into the peak of the PS4 and Xbox One's life in terms of their game library. People who just bought a PS4 would be very upset if there's an announcement for a newer model that has more power just a year or so later.
I mean just look at the elite controller or the "new" 3ds, people lapped it up. You got Nintendo even advertising the fact that monster hunter runs better on the new 3ds which obviously pissed people off but guess what I don't see what a backlash would do? People that want it will get it or they will stick to the system they have.
People didn't have a problem with the elite controller when it was announced but the price raised some eyebrows and people laughed it off and I see people are slowly giving in and buying it because it is very good and they like it. That's all it comes down to - choice
Bad examples. Nintendo has been doing remodels for their handhelds for a long time (more than 10 years) and the Elite is just a controller (there has always been multiple options and prices for controllers). It's also a controller that will work for
all Xbox One users and not just people who (say) bought the system this year.
If there are people out there that want to play a game like witcher or blood borne at 60 fps or without any performance issues they will pay the extra 100 or 150 bucks and get a premium version of ps4. I know there are people out there that will say "get a pc" but I am positive there is a vast majority of people out there that would prefer not to put up with pc and its complexities and would rather have a console. Why do you guys think valve is trying to get into the living room?
This hypothetical premium version will probably last the next 3 years before a ps5 would come out imo.
Bad idea in my opinion. I get why people (especially the more hardcore) would have no problem with laying down the extra money in ditching their old PS4 and getting a "PS4 Plus" but a new model like that would create too many questions. "What model is best for me?", "Should I even put the time/effort into making features for me game specifically for PS4 Plus if the majority of people are on the regular model?", "What's the difference? What games make better use of the Plus? Are they games I'm even interested in?", "Is my old system useless now?", etc.
Again, all questions similar to what people were saying in terms of SEGA products during the middle of the '90s. The home console space will never be ready for this. There's too much of a foundation/expectation for a successful console getting top of the line support for at least 5 years before it gets outdated by its successor.