The PS5 Pro rumor mill refuses to quiet down with various industry insiders claiming that Sony is working on a mid-generation refresh of its current flagship console. However, we may have just got our biggest hint yet that the PS5 Pro is real, and it comes from an unlikely source: Amazon.
The online retailing giant has recently updated its listing page for the PS5 console in the U.K., now labeling it as the “PlayStation 5 Standard Console”. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, a free internet archive service, we can see that as recently as May of this year, it was listed as simply the “PlayStation 5 Console”. Could this change be a subtle hint that a PS5 Pro is on the way and therefore the retailer needs to distinguish the current console as the “standard” edition?
Alternatively, perhaps this is a nod toward the equally heavily-rumored PS5 Slim console. Some sources have suggested that Sony will unveil a slimmed-down PS5 model later this year, so it’s fairly plausible that Amazon may have jumped the gun and updated its listing page a little early. If the PS5 Slim’s release is indeed imminent then we’d expect an official announcement within the next couple of months.
Of course, this update could simply be a case of Amazon making a clear distinction between the regular PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition. However, these two versions of the console have been available since launch in November 2020, and Amazon has only added the “Standard Console” tag recently. It appears more likely that it’s a hint towards something on the horizon. But we can’t entirely rule out the possibility that it’s merely the retailer looking to clean up any confusion among its customer and prevent shoppers from buying the wrong version of the PS5 this holiday season.
Even with this potentially promising hint from Amazon, for now, the PS5 Pro remains very much unconfirmed. Believed to be a stopgap between the PS5 and whatever Sony’s next console will be (commonly referred to as the PS6), the PS5 Pro is expected to build upon the foundations of the regular PS5 with refreshed internal components allowing for improved performance and visuals.
Looking at the previous generation, the PS4 Pro was released in 2016, three years after the launch of the regular PS4 in 2013. If Sony follows the same pattern we’re due official confirmation of the PS5 Pro in the very near future. So, perhaps this Amazon listing page update is a sign that retailers are gearing up for an imminent refresh of the PS5 lineup. But until we hear something concrete from Sony itself regarding the PS5 Pro or PS5 Slim, it’s best to take everything with a grain of salt. This Amazon update is no cast-iron guarantee of any new PlayStation hardware.
Meanwhile, if you're looking to score a PS5 right now, the console just got its first major discount in the U.K. as part of PlayStation's ongoing Summer Sale. While we've not seen the same saving in the U.S. as of yet, this £75 off sale could be another hint that new PS5 hardware is incoming as Sony might be attempting to shift surplus stock of the standard console before announcing new additions to the lineup.
