These are all valid points. But I don’t think the “better hardware” that helped the PS3 take the lead was really just about the cell processor. Nor do I think it played much of a role in the console’s price at launch. IIRC, at least in Australia, it was the cheapest BluRay player you could buy when it launched.

While both console’s were only really capable of 720p HD, many large open-world games had to use SD assets to fit everything on a DVD.

Microsoft clearly made that choice to keep the price lower at launch, and maybe Sony took the L on that one. But I don’t think they would have had the same resurgence later in it’s lifecycle otherwise.