Conflicting reports are emerging that suggest there could be a gulf in power between the Xbox 720 and Playstation 4, the only problem is nobody seems to have a clue which machine will be more powerful.
VG247 are reporting that the PS4 (or whatever it's going to be called) will have as much as a 50% raw power advantage over Microsoft's next machine.
They concede that the Xbox 720 (or whatever it's going to be called) is to have double the RAM (8GB as opposed to the PS4's 4GB), and they report that it will have a run-capability of 1.23 teraflops (as opposed to 1.84 teraflops from Playstation 4).
On the other side of the fence, Now Gamer are reporting that it is the Xbox that will be the more powerful machine (they speculate that both machines will be capable of 3.2 teraflops, but tech in the 720 will likely mean the machine can achieve speeds closer to 4.2).
There are factors other than RAM speed and processor power that will determine the running speed of the next-gen consoles, and it's worth bearing that in mind with all of these speculative numbers flying around.
Ultimately, most of this is guess work, with the specs for each machine being closely guarded secrets. What we can be sure of is this; with so many rumours flying around, reports that both platform holders are preparing to show off their latest consoles in the coming months can't be that far wide of the mark.