Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.
TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust.
Highly anticipated: Sony may be gearing up to reveal the next evolution of its PlayStation 5 console during the company's "technical presentation" later today. The event, hosted by PS5 lead architect Mark Cerny, is billed as focusing on "innovations in gaming technology." Proceedings start at 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm UK and will be broadcast on the PlayStation YouTube channel.
While Sony hasn't outright confirmed that the new console is coming, a breadcrumb trail of leaks and hints suggests the PS5 Pro will take center stage.
An official teaser included in Sony's recent announcement celebrating PlayStation's 30th anniversary featured a sketch (below) showing what looks like the PS5 Pro. If that's any indication, the model will be visually similar to the PS5 Slim model, maintaining that slick white color scheme. But it will add some stylish black striped accents to separate it from the standard edition.
More important than its appearance are the internals. Multiple leaks point to the Pro packing a serious power increase thanks to a new AMD "Trinity" chip. This silicon will feature the same CPU as the base PS5, but allow for a higher 3.85GHz clock speed in a special "High CPU Frequency Mode."
The real star, though, would be the GPU. Leaks suggest it would churn out 33.5 teraflops versus the standard model's 10.28 teraflops. This doesn't mean the console will be three times more powerful than the current model, though.
The leaks also suggest the Pro will leverage AI-powered upscaling called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) to further boost ray tracing performance by 2-3x in supported games. Combine that with a speedy 2TB Gen4 SSD, and you've got one beastly console on paper.
Yet, despite these enhancements, the PS5 Pro is expected to draw 200W and use the same power as the standard PS5. It's also rumored to run cooler.
– PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 9, 2024
Many of these specifications emerged when YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead leaked official documentation from Sony Interactive Entertainment's Developer Network. Sony took down the documentation not long after, all but confirming its authenticity.
There are also whispers that Sony has secured timed-exclusive marketing rights for Grand Theft Auto 6 on the PS5 line. So we could see Rockstar's next open-world epic featured heavily as a showcase for the system's capabilities when it arrives.
If the reports prove accurate, the Pro looks positioned to give Xbox's higher-end Series X a run for its money as the most powerful console on the market. With upgrades across the board, it may just redefine our expectations for mid-cycle hardware bumps.