Rumors of a PS5 Pro persist, and while the powered-up version of the current PS5 console has not been officially confirmed by Sony, one reliable insider has claimed it’s “100% in development” and the online whispers refuse to quieten down.
We expect the PS5 Pro will follow the lead of its precursor, the PS4 Pro. Essentially, this was a more powerful version of the base PS4 console. It packed the same DualShock 4 controller and library of games but was capable of increased performance and targeted 4K resolution on select titles. It was a console designed for gamers who wanted that little bit of extra power to enjoy PlayStation gaming at its very best.
The PS5 Pro would presumably do the same thing by building upon the foundations of the current PS5 with refreshed internal components and perhaps a visual redesign as well. But remember, it’ll be an iteration of the existing PS5 hardware, not a full-fledged successor; this is not the PS6.
Naturally, as the PS5 Pro has yet to be confirmed in any sort of official capacity, all we have to go off is rumors and a healthy dose of informed speculation. But for now, here’s everything we think we know about the PS5 Pro.
PS5 Pro latest news (updated May 23)
PS5 Pro rumored release date and potential price
Last spring the PS5 Pro was tipped to launch sometime this year. This would line up with the three-year gap we saw between the PS4 (November 2013) and the PS4 Pro (November 2016), but more recent rumors have poured cold water on the idea that we’re mere months away from the rumored console launching.
Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming has repeatedly suggested that the PS5 Pro will launch in 2024 as part of Sony’s ambitious upcoming hardware lineup that will also include a revised standard PS5 model (with a detachable disc drive) and a new handheld device centered around the console’s Remote Play feature.
Henderson’s assertion that we’ll have to wait until next year for the PS5 Pro has been backed by additional sources suggesting a 2024 release date is most likely. Plus, another leaker has claimed the PS5 Pro and the Nintendo Switch 2 will share a launch window. And as Nintendo has effectively ruled out any new hardware in 2023, that would place the PS5 Pro launch outside of the next seven or so months.
When it comes to price, there is precious little out there to even give us an indication of how much we need to save up ahead of time. At release in 2016, the PS4 Pro cost $399, this was the same price the base PS4 had launched for three years earlier. Of course, three years into the PS4’s lifecycle the console had already received a price cut, which hasn’t happened for the PS5.
If the PS5 Pro was to follow the trend of the last generation, it would launch for $499. However, don’t be surprised if the PS5 Pro is pitched at an even higher cost, maybe even $599. Sony proved with the PSVR 2 ($549 launch price), it’s not afraid to charge a premium price for new hardware, so you might want to start saving those pennies as soon as possible because the PS5 Pro could be one expensive console.
PS5 Pro potential specs
When it comes to the PS5 Pro specs there are two words that keep cropping up: 8K and ray tracing. We would expect these to be the two areas that Sony attempts to target with any form of revised PS5 hardware.
YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead, has predicted that the PS5 Pro will be positioned as an 8K console to go hand-in-hand with Sony’s 8K TVs. While the current PS5 does claim to have 8K capacities, we’ve seen very few games run at that resolution on the hardware, and none of them are the most graphically demanding titles on the console.
By the end of this year or early next year, there should be new AMD chips available for Sony to make use of in its next hardware. The base PS5 currently uses an AMD Zen 2-based processor and RDNA 2 graphics on a custom chipset, but the PS5 Pro may instead sport a refreshed Ryzen APU, as suggested by Paul Eccleston of RedGamingTech.
According to Paul’s source, a revised PS5 console would also aim to offer significantly stronger ray-tracing performance. Ray tracing has become a bit of a marketing buzzword in recent months, but it’s essentially a rendering technique that produces more realistic lighting effects. Tom Henderson also suggests that the PS5 Pro will have a strong focus on ray tracing and that legendary PlayStation console architect Mark Cerny is involved in the creation of the hardware.
We’d speculate the PS5 Pro could be very much like the PS4 Pro in that it could use up-mixing and checkerboard rendering to produce an 8K image out of one that’s rendered at a lower resolution. We’ve seen Nvidia have a lot of success with its deep-learning super sampling (DLSS) tech on the likes of the GeForce RTX 3080.
There’s been a big push for player choice so far this console generation with many PS5 and Xbox Series X games offering either a “Performance” or “Quality” mode. The former typically targets a higher framerate, the latter a better resolution. It seems likely that the PS5 Pro would build upon this. We don’t expect a console that would be capable of running the best PS5 games in 8K at 120 fps with full ray tracing enabled. But instead, players may be able to further choose which elements are most important to them.
PS5 Pro possible features
We think it’s highly unlikely that the PS5 Pro will offer any exclusive features per sey. As discussed above, it will likely boast more powerful internal components, but we don’t expect its upgrades will extend further into exclusive features or games.
The PS5 Pro is pretty much guaranteed to play all the same games as the PS5, and the current DualSense controller will almost certainly be the primary way you interact with the console. There is perhaps a possibility that the PS5 Pro will come packing the high-end DualSense Edge controller. But we wouldn’t bet on it as Sony likely wants to sell that premium $199 accessory separately to the most passionate PlayStation players.
It’s also been theorized that the PS5 Pro will work in harmony with the recently released PSVR 2 headset. This would make sense as virtual reality is clearly an area of great interest for Sony, and we expect its latest VR device will be supported for many years to come. There is a reasonable chance that PSVR 2 will also be able to take advantage of the increased power of the PS5 Pro for improved performance levels or sharper visuals.
PS5 Pro early outlook
Even though the PS5 will celebrate its third birthday this November, in many ways, it still feels like this console generation has barely begun. Publishers have opted to release their biggest games on both PS5 and PS4 over the past two years, and this includes heavy-hitting PlayStation exclusives like Horizon: Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarök.
It looks like 2023 will be the year that the PS4 is finally left behind, but it still feels like we’re at least a couple of years away from the base PS5 console really hitting its stride. If a PS5 Pro was to release in 2024, it would arguably come too early, launching just as the potential of its predecessor is being fully unlocked.
However, some recent high-profile games have been released in a less-than-impressive technical state (Star Wars Jedi Survivor is a prime example). So there are definitely reasons to believe that developers could do with a little bit more power to play with, and the PS5 Pro could give them just that.
Sony would also pitch the PS5 Pro as a product designed specifically for the most enthusiastic gamers. It would not be intended as a replacement for the regular PS5, which would likely continue to be Sony’s main console.
The PS5 Pro is highly likely to be marketed towards players who want the highest possible resolution, with the most stable framerates, and wouldn’t be designed to replace the standard PS5 hardware. The two could co-exist, as the PS4 and PS4 Pro did for several years. And as lovers of cutting-edge gaming ourselves, the various PS5 Pro floating around the internet have definitely got our attention.