It’s been almost four years since the PS5 was first launched, introducing everyone to a Sony stock shortage from hell. While Sony has only just cleared away the OG PS5 to make space for the PS5 Slim, it seems the gaming giant is gearing up to launch the PS5 Pro soon.
Last week, highly-reliable leaker Billbil-kun released a drawing of the PS5 Pro on Dealabs after reportedly seeing the retail packaging. According to the post, the upcoming console looks like a PS5 Slim with adidas-like stripes across the middle. And now, Sony has all but confirmed the drawing to be accurate.
In a graphic from a 30th-anniversary blog post, Sony displays a bunch of silhouettes of PlayStation consoles from the last thirty years, except the console directly in the middle isn’t one most people would recognise. What does it look like? The exact three-stripe console drawing released in the Dealabs leak.
With rumours suggesting that Sony could launch the console as early as next week, we’re rounding up all the PS5 Pro rumours you need to know, from the PS5 Pro’s release date and price to its design and specs.
PS5 Pro release date: When could the console launch?
While there’s no official word on the PS5 Pro’s release date, leaker reports suggest the console could launch this month. Here’s a complete timeline of the PS5 Pro’s reported development cycle, and when leakers think the console could launch.
In March 2023, reliable outlet Insider Gaming claimed the PS5 Pro was in active development and could be released in late 2024. The report said the 2024 PS5 Pro was a separate machine from the PS5 Slim that launched in late 2023.
In May 2023, Insider Gaming published a report stating “although the PlayStation 5 Pro could be cancelled at any given time”, it can say “with 100 per cent degree of certainty that the PlayStation 5 Pro was currently in development”.
It added that the first developer kit prototypes would be going to first-party developers “within the next couple of months”, and that third-party developers would be receiving them by the end of the year. It reiterated that the rumoured console is expected to launch in late 2024.
Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, this time writing for Key to Gaming, stated the PS5 Pro was codenamed Project Trinity, keeping with the Matrix-themed codenames used for previous gaming releases. He alleged in July 2023 that Sony had already begun hosting demonstrations with developers.
In a December 2023 YouTube stream, gaming insider Jeff Grubb revealed that industry insiders had told him a mid-generation PS5 console was likely to launch in September 2024. He stated it would feature Sony’s own proprietary AI model to upscale content, giving games a higher resolution and a higher frame rate, and that Sony wanted it out before the launch of GTA 6.
In April 2024, The Verge‘s Tom Warren claimed that developers were already able to order test kits and that Sony was asking them to get their games ready for the summer. He said he expects every game to be submitted for certification by August, with the games being compatible with the PS5 Pro.
In July 2024, Insider Gaming’s Henderson reiterated that the PS5 Pro was still on track to be released later this year, with developers being able to submit their games for certification on the PS5 Pro on 30 July. He also stated that all games released after 15 September are “required to support the PlayStation 5 Pro”, though this doesn’t mean that it’ll be released on 16 September.
On 29 August 2024, leaker Billbil-kun, who has sources on the retail side, released a drawing of the alleged console and stated that it would be unveiled in the first half of September.
On 5 September 2024, a Sony State of Play insider claimed that a “big announcement” would be taking place sometime next week and that the tech giant would host a State of Play the week after, likely to go into more detail about the console.
On 5 September 2024, Insider Gaming stated in a new report that, according to its sources, the PS5 Pro is scheduled to be released sometime in November.
Sony is booked to be at the Tokyo Game Show at the end of September, so the gaming giant could announce the console in early September, go into detail at its State of Play in mid-September, and expand on it at the Tokyo Game Show.
PS5 Pro price: How much could the console cost?
In August 2022, Sony took the unprecedented decision to increase the price of the original PS5 by £30 in the UK, taking the price up to £479.99. Sony maintained this pricing for the PS5 Slim. Analysts, however, think the PS5 Pro could cost even more.
Jeff Grubb speculated in his YouTube video that the PS5 Pro could cost around $600 – that’s $100 more than the PS5 Slim, based on the spec boost. If the price increase also applies to the UK, the PS5 Pro could cost £579.
While the PS4 Pro costs the same as the PS4, the spec jump indicates that the PS5 Pro won’t be a machine that follows tradition – it seems like a much more powerful console.
PS5 Pro specs and design
We got our first alleged look at the design of the PS5 Pro in late August when Billbil-kun released a drawing of the console. It looked like a PS5 Slim with three stripes across the middle, and Sony has essentially confirmed this to be the console’s design when it released its 30th-anniversary blog post and showed a similar-looking silhouette of the console in the lead image.
Slightly larger than the PS5 Slim, the leaker says it will come in white with a white dualsense controller. Interestingly, the insider only has access to packaging for a digital-only machine without a disc drive, and suggests that it will ship without one to keep costs down. Gamers could add on the disc drive at a later date.
There are a huge number of rumours about the PS5 Pro’s specs. In April 2024, tech news site The Verge reportedly obtained a complete spec list for the new console, as well as confirmation that developers are being instructed to make their upcoming games compatible with the as-yet-unannounced hardware.
That means new games will be designed to run on the basic PS5 as well as the PS5 Pro, with the latter console providing better graphics and performance. Existing games can be patched to take advantage of the new hardware, but every game will be designed to run on any version of the PS5 – that’s to say, anyone with an original PS5 won’t miss out on new releases.
The Verge reports that the new PS5 will have a 45 per cent faster GPU (graphics processing unit) and run on an overclocked variant of the standard PS5’s CPU – so the same physical chip, but allowed to run 10 per cent faster at the expense of drawing more power and producing more heat.
Most of the PS5 Pro rumours have come from Tom Henderson’s Key to Gaming report in July 2023. The leaker said his sources suggest the PS5 Pro will feature a GPU with 18,000 MT/s memory and 30 WGP (workgroup processor). “The PlayStation 5 Pro will be targeting improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution, a new ‘performance mode’ for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing,” he said.
The latest PS5 Pro leaks also suggest the console will have a major focus on ray-traced graphics, a rendering technique that results in more realistic lighting and reflections in games, and an area in which the Xbox Series X has already been succeeding.
Insider Gaming’s Henderson also claimed in a recent report that the PS5 Pro would see a RAM boost of 28 per cent and a huge GPU boost of 67 per cent, which would see the next-generation machine run a whole 45 per cent faster than the current PS5 Slim. He added that Sony wants all games to run at a smooth 60fps, and is looking at improving ray tracing.
It’s likely the PS5 Pro will have a new and upgraded AMD chip. AMD posted a job listing on LinkedIn in May 2022, searching for someone who would work on the RDNA chips that power the PlayStation and Xbox consoles. In the ad, the company said the role would involve work on a “next-generation chip development project”.
According to RedGamingTech, the PS5 Pro could be twice as fast as the PS5 (though the leaker doesn’t go into specifics), and could be 2.5 times more powerful with ray tracing turned on. The PS5 already has ray tracing. A patent filed by Sony’s lead system architect of the PS4 and PS5, Mark Cerny, in 2022 suggests the next PlayStation console could see an update to ray tracing.
In a January 2023 report, Phonandroid also claimed the PS5 Pro will include liquid cooling for better heat management. That said, the publication also reported the PS5 Pro would be launching in April 2023, and, obviously, that didn’t happen.
On 15 August 2023, the YouTube gaming insider channel RedGamingTech released a tranche of new information regarding the specs of the PS5 Pro, stating in the video that it will be twice as powerful as the current PS5, and that you’ll be able to play games at 60fps with ray tracing enabled, something PCs with high-end graphics cards can achieve. Right now, the PS5 can only run 60fps games in 4k without ray tracing.
The YouTuber released a second video on 23 August 2023, disputing one detail in the first report regarding the CPU. RedGamingTech originally claimed the PS5 would feature a Zen 4 microarchitecture, but the leaker now suggests it will still be based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture found in the current PS5.
The best PS5 deals
The new PS5 Slim disc edition is the OG PS5 with a glow-up. It weighs less, has a slimmer profile, and comes with 1TB of internal storage instead of the random 825GB found on the previous model. There are four panels on the side instead of two, a glossy upper half and a matte bottom half. It has a very small discount at Amazon.
For more on gaming, check out our round-up of the best game consoles