The PlayStation 4 will reserve 3.5GB of its RAM for the operating system, a report on Eurogamer's Digital Foundry has said.

Sony's next-gen console comes with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, leaving 4.5GB of RAM guaranteed to developers of PlayStation 4 titles.

However, sources speaking to Digital Foundry said an additional GB of RAM can be used as flexible memory--giving developers up to 5.5GB of total RAM--but only if the PlayStation 4 operating system can still function without the extra memory.

Additional sources add that this 3.5GB requirement could be reduced once the work on the PlayStation 4 OS is complete and potentially streamlined.

Much of the allocated RAM for the OS will allow for some of the PlayStation 4's new system features, like application switching, and being able to pause and resume games.

The PlayStation 4 will launch globally later in 2013 for $399/€399/£349.

A Sony representative was not immediately available for comment.