The heavily rumored PS5 Pro could hit store shelves as soon as next year. A new report claims it's set to release in November 2024, complete with upgraded GPU and RAM to make 8K console gaming possible.
To date, a mid-life-cycle refresh of the base PS5 has yet to be officially confirmed by Sony. But reliable leaker Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming, who's accurately predicted PlayStation's hardware plans in the past, previously claimed the console is “100% in development,” and that development kits could ship later this year. Now, Henderson is back, this time writing for Key to Gaming, with more purported details about the development process and what kind of specs we can expect from the PS5's powered-up cousin.
According to Henderson, Sony is already holding demo events for the PS5 Pro, which is codenamed "Project Trinity" to align with the Matrix-inspired codenames the company's used in the past, like "Neo" for the PS4 Pro and "Morpheus" for the original PSVR.
While pinning down exact specs remains difficult, two things his sources have confirmed are that the PS5 Pro will feature 18,000 MT/s memory and 30 WGP (workgroup processor). He goes on to say the upgraded system will target more consistent framerates at 4K resolution, feature a new top-of-the-line "performance mode" for 8K resolution and sport "accelerated ray tracing."
PS5 Pro rumored cost and release date
The PS5 Pro has apparently been in development since early 2022, which explains the slew of rumors we've seen circulating over the past few years. The "majority" of game developers are scheduled to receive devkits by November 2023 at the latest, Henderson reports. As for when we can expect the PS5 Pro to hit store shelves, he said:
"Whether or not a PlayStation 5 Pro console is desired enough in the current market remains to be seen, but as of writing, the PlayStation 5 Pro is in development and is targeting a November 2024 release date."
There's still no word on when Sony will officially announce its revamped PlayStation hardware. Or how much it may cost. We assume the PS5 Pro will be more expensive than the base PS5, but by how much remains a big ol' question mark.
For reference, the PS4 Pro debuted in 2016 for $399, the same price as the original PS4 at launch, which by that time had dropped to $299. Meanwhile, the base PS5 remains the same price even now, three years after launch, thanks in part to supply-chain issues that made stock extremely hard to come by for the bulk of its life cycle thus far. So odds are the PS5 Pro, or whatever Sony ends up calling it, won't get the same price treatment as its predecessor, especially with all the improvements under the hood it's rumored to be packing.
