Vertical vs. Horizontal: Which PS5 and Xbox Series X Position Is Safer?

If you’re really interested in reading up on these claims, you can certainly do so. However, you should know about these reports before you worry about putting your PS5 in a vertical position.

First off, I’ve yet to see any of these reports verified by either an official source or a noteworthy outlet/hardware tester. Furthermore, those who have raised their concerns about the PS5’s vertical orientation have also been quick to point out that this is most likely a rare issue that won’t affect the vast majority of PS5 users. Finally, the information on these PS5 owners that claim to have been impacted by this issue is disturbingly thin. If this issue really happened, we still know nothing about how those users treated their consoles or even if they were specifically trying to produce this result through stress tests.

Officially, the PS5 can be positioned either horizontally or vertically, though there are a couple of catches to that official information. Most notably, the PS5 comes with a stand that the PlayStation team recommends you properly secure to your console before positioning it either vertically or horizontally. If you’re not using that stand, you run the risk of your PS5 losing its stability or potentially not producing the proper airflow at all times.

However, I’ve found (and heard others say) that it can be remarkably easy to mess up that stand installation process, especially if you’re trying to position the console horizontally. To be safe, you want to follow Sony’s official installation instructions and ensure that your PS5 is properly positioned at all times.

As for the rest…well, I will admit that I’ve seen more reports of the dangers of putting the PS5 in a vertical position than in a horizontal position. However, I’ve yet to see the report that leads me to believe putting your PS5 in a vertical position is incredibly dangerous. Not only is the PS5 regularly advertised in a vertical position, but many users will find that it looks better (and takes up less space overall when positioned vertically).

If you want to (or need to) position your PS5 vertically, you should be fine doing so as long as you follow all other operational guidelines. If you’re really worried, though, you may opt to keep it horizontal in order to help prevent the only orientation-based performance issues that have been suggested so far.