However it appears that several cases have shown that the PS5’s “seal” between the APU and its cooler can sometimes move or be damaged. When that is the case, if your PS5 sits horizontally, the liquid metal will stay flat and keep most of its thermal properties to help cool the PS5. But if your PS5 is vertical and “something” bad happens to the seal, then there is a risk the liquid metal will progressively fall down, becoming uneven, impacting its cooling ability and possibly reach components it shouldn’t.
Apparently it's safer to put your PS5 down horizontally, before it puts itself down permanently. That's a bit of a bummer. No idea how widespread this issue is, but it's hard to argue with gravity.
- ↩️ wololo.net
[update 20230111] Seems the whole thing is a tad overblown.
The report claimed that unopened consoles, originally interpreted as unopened, in-box consoles, left in vertical orientation for too long, could potentially see the liquid metal drip down the side of the motherboard and permanently damage the console.
It was also suggested that the same could happen to those consoles in use in the vertical orientation. However it’s beginning to look like the original reports aren’t as dire as they once seemed.
Firstly, Wololo.net has published an update on their report, clarifying that the PS5’s in question were not unopened in the sense that they had yet to be taken out of the box.
They were only unopened in regards to the console itself not having been opened by other repair stores or the owners themselves.