PS5 Pro rumors have been flooding in for some time now. As such, if you haven’t gotten a PS5 yet, it might be best to wait a few months.
Sony will reportedly release a powered-up « Pro » version of the console as soon as this year. To be clear, there hasn’t been a great deal of solid, reliable reporting on the topic just yet, but rumblings of a PS5 Pro have only gotten more intense as time has gone on.
But what would a PS5 Pro actually entail? Let’s dig in.
PS5 Pro release date
The PS5 Pro’s release date is reportedly some time during the 2024 holiday season, according to Insider Gaming, which cited « trusted sources. »
Serkan Toto, a gaming industry analyst from Kantan Games, told CNBC that he believes a revamped PS5 could be in the works for launch in late 2024, too. Part of the reasoning for this is that Sony cut its sales forecast for the next fiscal year, perhaps signaling that the PlayStation brand could use a boost in the near future.
Toto also mentioned the impending release of Grand Theft Auto VI in 2025 as a good reason for Sony to get new hardware in people’s entertainment centers.
These are simply the words of an analyst who doesn’t work for Sony, so it’s fair to take them with a grain of salt. However, the prediction somewhat lines up with Sony’s past activities with the PlayStation brand. For example, the PS4 Pro came out in 2016, three years after the launch of the PS4. Late 2024 will mark four years since the launch of the PS5.
As we enter the latter half of the PS5’s life cycle, 2024 may be the only year where it makes sense to launch the PS5 Pro.
PS5 Pro specs
Thanks to a leak from The Verge’s Tom Warren, the PS5 will have the following internal upgrades over the PS5:
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10% CPU improvement
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45% GPU improvement
Warren also added that the PS5 Pro frees up 1.2GB more system memory for developers for a total of 13.7GB (compared to the PS5’s 12.5GB).
PS5 Pro price
This is where the lack of solid reporting on the PS5 Pro’s existence becomes difficult to deal with.
Since we don’t even know that the PS5 Pro exists, it’s impossible to say how much it would cost. All we can really do is look back on how Sony handled the PS4 Pro, which is actually somewhat encouraging. The upgraded PS4 launched at $399 — the same price the original PS4 launched at three years prior. Perhaps Sony will drop the price of the standard PS5 and release the Pro at $499, the current PS5 price in the U.S. for the model with a disc drive.
Making this a little more complicated is the fact that Sony slightly hiked the price of the PS5 in other markets in late 2022. Sony will have to figure out a way to sell the PS5 Pro at a somewhat fair price without losing a ton of money in the process.
PS5 Pro design
This is another area where all we can do is speculate.
Sony has already lightly revised the PS5 post-launch, with the release of the PS5 slim model late last year. That made the console slightly shorter and thinner, but it’s still the same basic design. In all likelihood, a PS5 Pro would go in the opposite direction and be even larger than the already very large standard PS5. That’s the price of increasing horsepower.
One way Sony could alleviate this is by getting rid of the disc drive and forcing customers to buy the separate, detachable disc drive that’s available for the PS5 Slim. That wouldn’t exactly be ideal, but it would make the console a bit smaller.
PS5 Pro ‘Ultra boost’ mode
According to The Verge, the PS5 Pro may have an « Ultra Boost » mode for games.
Sony is reportedly asking developers to create something called a « PS5 Pro-exclusive graphics mode » for their games, which uses PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) to upscale to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (with ray-tracing effects in tow).
Per Insider Gaming, titles will get a « PS5 Pro Enhanced label » if they offer the following:
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PS5 Pro ray-tracing effects
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Higher target resolution for games that run a fixed resolution on the standard console
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Higher target maximum resolution for games that run at variable resolution on the standard console
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Higher target frame rate for games that target a fixed frame rate on the standard console
Sony may be working on an Ultra Boost mode for older games, too.
PS5 Pro controller
When Sony launched the PS4 Pro, it made zero changes to the PS4’s standard DualShock 4 controller. After all, it didn’t really need any. I would expect the same approach to be taken with the PS5 Pro.
The PS5 DualSense controller is excellent as is, with the exception of inevitable analog stick drift. I’ve personally gone through like three of the dang things since launch. In a perfect world, Sony would bundle the PS5 Pro with the more expensive DualSense Edge controller, which allows users to easily swap new analog sticks in and out instead of buying a whole new controller when drift develops.
That seems unlikely based on past precedent, but hey, a man can dream.
