Is the Canon EOS RP the next camera up?

Exciting news! Interesting, what signs exactly point to a sub- EOS R camera? Apart from the previous rumours.

focusing screen in 3 colors?

Meh, Probably a camera bag.

I Just ordered the RF 28-70 f/2, so I wouldn't mind if they came out with a cheaper R and cheaper RFblenses that I wouldn't care for. Give me some time to set money aside for the "pro" R body that's rumored.

EOS-RP. 'P' as in 'Pro'? or 'P' as in 'Plastic'?

Smart power zoom optical viewfinder to go on the hotshoe, has electronic contacts so all current viewfinder info, and more, can be overlaid. Comes in three colors to match the $1,499 price of the 'lower end' body. Costs $1499...

I wonder what features can they drop. The frame rate is pretty low already, the body is not that special either - what is that cheap rebel-like directional pad?
They probably put a 6D sensor and lower quality EVF.

Grip in three color suggests plastic.

EG is used for camera bags too.

100 EG.... Camera bag
10 EG.... Camera bag.
1EG... Camera bag.

Canon is doomed.
Literally
RIP

My guess will be:
plastic body.
Simplify the controls (no touchbar - possibly omit the rear dial)
Maybe remove the articulating screen (Canon might choose to keep this if it helps differentiate it from Sony's and Nikon's equivalent cameras)
Lower resolution EVF
Maybe drop the top LCD
Use an existing sensor - either from the 6D2 or 5D4/R, whichever is cheepest to produce. I can see Canon using the same sensor as the R here unless the cost to manufacture is prohibitive at this price point.

Nokishita seems to think it’s a “sport” camera?

Where is the 1D X equivalent? Pros are never going to give up the 1D X bodies for the R body unless and until there is a pro body in the lineup. Canon might be doomed indeed.

I have a hard time seeing that happen without native lenses to support "sports". They need to move volumes of cameras to get the system going, not niche market products.

The revenue share of a "pro" body like the EOS-1D X Mark II vs something like the EOS 6D Mark II is night and day. One retailer told me that they sold the EOS 6D at a rate of 1000 to 1 vs the EOS-1D X/EOS-1D X Mark II (it could be even higher globally). I also don't see pros dumping their EOS-1D X bodies and needing to adapt EF lenses. More RF mount lenses have to come first.

engine grip like old motor drive battery grips for filmcameras
you get camera as 1500E but brains come on grip 1000e more
it would be actually handy when you dont need sport speed you can leave grip home and shoot just low fps with light weight camera
so P could mean Power or perfomance or Party
or it could be P like phone,maybe they got enough smart phones stealing their sales and added phone to R
Eg could be entry grip too ,external turbo unit meaned for entry level camera

They can drop some minor things easily in the firmware, eliminate the metal body, top LCD, and put in a LP-17 battery. The cost to make the camera won't be a lot less, but they want to sell a lot of cameras and a low price does that. They could cut the price of the R, but thats not the way pricing levels used throughout the world for virtually every product work. They want to target buyers who are not pros or enthusiasts, but want to take excellent quality images. That audience will not use the extra features, they leave the camera on automatic.

Canon has a very long and very good track record of pricing and configuring cameras for specific markets. High production rates are the key to cutting cost, that has a really big impact on costs to produce, advertise, distribute and service since costs for all those things are spread over a much larger quantity of cameras.

Since processing speed seems to be Canon's current limitation, the new camera could not possibly be a FF "sports" camera unless they have made a quantum leap forward in Digic tech. An APS-C camera however...

No EVF, only the rear LCD screen. Just like the M5 / M6 pair.
Optional separate top EVF

Less specs than the R, r they having a laugh! It’s probably designed to sell in the 3rd world. They should name it RIP (rest in peace) instead of RP.