Although Sony has remained silent on the subject, some believe that the PS5 Pro could be released as early as late 2024.
By December 2023, more than 50 million PlayStation 5 consoles have been sold (per The Verge ), and Sony could look to increase those numbers even further amid rumors of a mid-generation hardware refresh.
Halfway through the extremely successful life of the PlayStation 4, the Japanese tech giant offered its customers a Pro version of its console for the first time. This allowed gamers to choose a new PS4 that could boast hardware innovations like 4K and HDR that the base PS4 simply couldn’t.
When will the PS5 Pro be released?
No official information has been released about the PlayStation 5 Pro yet, but the rumor machine is full of speculation about the new PS5.
Some have wondered if the PS5 Pro update will happen at all, as Sony announced a new line of slim consoles in the fall of 2023; However, insiders believe the Pro is coming – it’s just a matter of when.
According to Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, Sony’s new slim consoles are “just the beginning of the new hardware” For the PS5 generation, possibly hinting at the Pro’s existence:
“just the beginning of new hardware for this generation of PlayStation users.”
In another report, Henderson wrote that the PS5 Pro is “100%” under development and expected to be released sometime in the last quarter of 2024.
Henderson then specified in Key of Gaming (via Tom’s Guide), “PlayStation 5 Pro is in development with a November 2024 release date:”
“It remains to be seen whether there is enough demand for the PlayStation 5 Pro console in the current market, but as of this writing, the PlayStation 5 Pro is in development with a release date of November 2024.”
Insider Jeff Grubb countered these November 2024 PS5 Pro release rumors, revealing Games are a mess podcast he had heard the hardware upgrade was ready for release in September 2024.
Development kits for the Pro console series have reportedly made their way to game developers, and Demos from development teams apparently started appearing last fall, adding credibility to this late 2024 window.
The PS5 Pro is said to be Project Trinity, following in its footsteps Matrix-themes codenames for PSVR (Project Morpheus) and PS4 Pro (Project Neo).
If the PlayStation 5 Pro is indeed coming by the end of 2024, fans should expect the console to be officially announced sometime a few months before then.
Tom Henderson – in his post X (formerly Twitter) page – quelled concerns that Sony might be announcing the console too early by showing it off at CES in early January, telling gamers “I’d be surprised if they announced a new console 9-10 months after launch” and the official announcement is likely to come “late Q3:”
“It seems like everyone is hyped that the PS5 Pro might be announced at CES. Personally, I’d be surprised if they announced a new console 9-10 months after launch if they continue on that timeline. So I’m more inclined to believe late Q3 “‘s announcement.”
Of course, CES has come and gone without a word about the PS5 Pro, so Henderson could be on to something.
Due to their big hardware releases in the fall, Sony has traditionally decided to announce their new consoles sometime earlier at the E3 video game conference (mid-June).
After Sony pulled out of E3 in 2019 (and the convention has since died), PlayStation has continued to maintain similar timing for some kind of presentation.
So if the PS5 Pro is coming this year, fans should expect to hear about it first at a PlayStation event sometime between early June and mid-to-late July.
How much does the PS5 Pro cost?
Since the console has not yet been officially announced, hardware pricing information has not yet been released.
Originally, the PS4 Pro (Sony’s first stab at updating the mid-generation console) launched for $399 in 2016. This was $100 more than the base version of the PS4 at launch.
So fans should expect a similar price difference between the base PS5 and the PS5 Pro.
Currently, the slim Discless PS5 costs $449, and the disc-based version of the console costs $499 (via PlayStation Direct).
If Sony were to take a small price cut on the base PS5 line, moving the disc-less version to $399 and the disc-based SKU to $449, the PS5 Pro will look $100 higher than that top price.
That would put the PS5 Pro’s price point somewhere around $549.99.
What PS5 Pro features to expect
According to leaks, the PS5 Pro will be a strong upgrade from its 2020 little brother.
Insider Tom Henderson – posted on Key to Gaming – revealed that he heard the new console’s testament “target better and smooth FPS with 4K resolution” as well as “new ‘performance mode’ for 8K resolution and accelerated ray tracing:”
“Performance targets for the consoles and, as expected, the PlayStation 5 Pro are aiming for improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution, a new ‘performance mode’ for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing.”
While the base version of the PS5 has largely left gamers to choose between stable frame rates or 4K output, the PS5 Pro looks to do away with that by offering buttery smooth gameplay and getting high quality 4K textures.
In user RandomlyRandom67’s ResetEra post, the PS5’s Pro series comes into play. “accelerated ray tracing” a technique that enables detailed ray-traced shadows (a feature that the base PS5 can largely only achieve at 30 FPS).
Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb confirmed these rumors and told his fans Games are decided by the mess indicate that leaks are “almost true” as Sony hopes the console can “run things at really high resolution and really high frame rate” (via Game Rant).
This technology is reportedly made possible in large part by AMD’s new next-gen GPU (AMD RDNA 3), which is a step up from the PS4’s AMD RDNA 2 (per Video Cardz).
In addition, thanks to even faster memory and CPU clock speeds, PS5’s already shockingly low load times are reduced even further, allowing games to launch almost instantly.
The PS5 Pro could also potentially use these faster memory speeds to mimic the “Quick Resume” feature already on the Xbox Series X/S, where the console allows you to pause multiple games at once. This means that the user can jump from one game to another and launch directly from where they were, instead of opening to the traditional home screen.
The PlayStation 5 Pro is currently expected to be released sometime this fall.
