New information from reliable leaker ‘Billbil-kun’ could give us our first glimpse at how the long-awaited PlayStation 5 Pro could look.
In a new report posted to the French-language dealabs blog (which we have machine translated) ‘Billbil-kun’ claims to have seen the front of the final packaging for the upcoming system. They confirm that it will be called the ‘PS5 Pro’ and state that, while they are unable to post a photo “due to copyright reasons”, they can offer a basic sketch.
I created the mock-up above based on this sketch and some of the written information included in the report, using an official image of the existing PS5 Slim as a starting point. ‘Billbil-kun’ alleges that the PS5 Pro will have a design that is “very similar” to the PS5 Slim, with a white exterior and two front USB-C ports along with the power button.
The biggest visible design difference between the PS5 Slim and the PS5 Pro, it seems, will be the presence of three black grooves on the side of the console. The leaker also believes that the upcoming console will be slightly thicker than the PS5 Slim. This kind of design would certainly make a lot of sense and seems quite reminiscent of the jump from the PS4 to the PS4 Pro.
‘Billbil-kun’ states that the packaging they have seen did not indicate the inclusion of a disc drive. This may suggest compatibility with the existing Disc Drive For PS5 Digital Edition attachment or the move to a digital-only console (though the latter is unlikely given the strong physical sales numbers of many of the best PS5 games). Ultimately, we will have to wait and see whether this is the case.
In terms of a release window, the leaker believes that an announcement could be made as soon as next month. This would certainly line up with a lot of the chatter that I heard from developers and partners at Gamescom 2024, who seem to have already been briefed on the existence of the console and expect some official news soon.