The PS5 Pro is the solution to all of my problems — well, at least one of them. We’ve got a couple of gamers in the house, so if I get an upgrade, someone can get a hand-me-down, you know what I mean? And given the volume of rumors we’ve seen about the PS5 Pro, it’s all but confirmed to launch sooner than later.
When the PS5 and Xbox Series X launched, we entered the 4K, 120-fps, ray tracing age of gaming — except all those settings aren’t adding up. In fact, we’ve seen AAA games launch at a miserable 30 fps (I’m looking at you, Starfield). Can the PS5 Pro turn it all around in the last half of this generation’s cycle?
Here’s everything that we know so far about PS5 Pro, from the release date and price to the games and more.
PS5 Pro release date
The PS5 Pro is reportedly set to launch in Q4 2024. That specific rumor can be sourced back to Colin Moriarty, who made such a claim on Episode 295 of the Sacred Symbols podcast. This was also confirmed by Insider Gaming.
Moriarty stated that someone at a “midsize third-party publisher” received a presentation for the PS5 Pro. Moriarty goes on to explain that if this third-party has this info, that means it's more than likely that first and second party developers already have access to that info if not the kits themselves.
In a CNBC report, analyst Serkan Toto also states that "there seems to be a broad consensus in the game industry that Sony is indeed preparing a launch of a PS5 Pro in the second half of 2024." Toto also claims that GTA 6 is one of the driving forces of this release date, as GTA 6 will “be a shot in the arm for the entire gaming industry.”
PS5 Pro price
The PS5 Pro might cost $600 — but that’s conjecture, not a rumor. Analyst Chris Ray Gun, who appeared on the aforementioned Sacred Symbols podcast, suggests the same.
Our own speculation comes from a little math. The PS5 Slim recently launched at the same price point as the original PS5, at $499. When the PS4 Pro arrived, it was set at the same launch price as the original PS4, but we don’t think Sony will maintain the same pattern. In the company’s February 2024 investor’s call, Sony made it clear that it wouldn’t be able to reduce manufacturing costs enough to cut the price of the PS5 Slim and profit.
If Sony can’t cut the price of the PS5 Slim and doesn’t intend to discontinue it, then the PS5 Pro will have to cost more. I doubt it’ll settle at $550 — unless the company offers a digital edition, similar to its previous selection. Regardless, we imagine that the PS5 Pro will cap at $600.
PS5 Pro specs
The PS5 Pro is reportedly packing over 2x the amount of power of the PS5. This rumor comes from Paul Eccleston of YouTube channel RedGamingTech.
Eccleston claims that manufacturing sources state the PS5 Pro will offer 23 teraflops of computing power, soaring over the PS5’s 10.28 teraflops. The PS5 Pro CPU and GPU clock speed allegedly run up to 3.6GHz and 2.7GHz, respectively. Meanwhile, the current PS5’s CPU and GPU speeds go up to 3.5GHz and 2.23GHz, respectively. That’s a decent jump in GPU performance.
More recently, AMD CTO Mark Papermaster appeared in Episode 53 of No Priors podcast and stated that AMD “just completed AI enabling our entire portfolio — you know, cloud, Edge, PCs, and our embedded devices and gaming devices.” Papermaster goes on to say that 2024 is a “huge deployment” year for AI. This, of course, implies that the PS5 Pro will feature AI technology to enhance performance, potentially pushing it further than it would otherwise operate.
The Verge recently broke a story claiming that the PS5 is codenamed Trinity and that it would be outfitted with a more powerful GPU and faster CPU mode, designed to render more games with ray tracing or higher resolutions at higher frame rates.
According to The Verge's sources, the PS5 Pro will be 45% faster than the PS5. The speed at which the ray tracing is rendered will be three times faster. The article claims that the PS5 will target a 3.85GHz CPU frequency, which is higher than previously reported.
Additionally, the PS5 Pro's memory will offer a speed of 576 gigabytes per second vs. the PS5's 448GBps as well as an additional 1.2GB of system memory (13.7GB vs. 12.5GB).
Sony is also pushing its custom PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) upscaling tech. This will provide the PS5 Pro to upscale resolutions from 1080p to 4K or 4K to 8K with improved latency.
PS5 Pro games
Naturally, PS5 Pro will offer all the same PS5 games, but which titles will benefit most from the PS5 Pro?
We mentioned earlier that GTA 6 is a huge title for the gaming industry, and if we were to consider Toto’s claim, it’s more than likely that the PS5 Pro will be necessary to get the most out of Rockstar’s next hit.
There aren’t many claims out there concerning other titles, but we can certainly speculate. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach launches in 2025, which means it’s likely going to offer some goodies for PS5 Pro users. Another easy one is Marvel’s Wolverine, which still doesn’t have a set release date but is confirmed for the PS5.
These are some easy guesses since they’re all PS5-exclusive titles, but it’ll be interesting to see which third-party titles, present and future, will jump on board the Pro upgrade.
According to The Verge post linked above, we'll be able to spot PS5 games that can benefit from the PS5 Pro with a label dubbed "PS5 Pro Enhanced."
Outlook
I am so damn ready for the PS5 Pro. Unfortunately, this generation of gaming is rather underwhelming in terms of graphical capabilities.
If you want to play a AAA game at 4K with ray tracing, you’re stuck at 30 fps. On a console capable of 4K, 120 fps gaming, that’s disappointing. I hope that the PS5 Pro can push us to a minimum of 4K, 60 fps with ray tracing and 1440p, 120 fps without ray tracing on AAA titles. Regardless, we’ll see soon enough what the PS5 Pro is capable of.
For more news, rumors, and updates on everything PS5 Pro related, and all things tech, follow Laptop Mag on Twitter, Facebook, and Flipboard for the latest word as it arrives.
