Reports indicate that Sony is developing a ‘Pro’ version of the PlayStation 5, with expectations for a release later this year. In a statement made last month, industry analysts suggested that the PS5 Pro, which will feature enhanced hardware, is likely to debut before the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 is scheduled for release in 2025. Recent leaks have now shed light on the detailed specifications of this forthcoming console.
Insider Gaming reports that the PS5 Pro will offer improved system memory, boasting a speed of 576 GB/s compared to the PS5’s 448 GB/s, marking a bandwidth increase of 28 percent. Additionally, while it utilizes the same eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU found in the PS5, the new ‘Pro’ variant will introduce a ‘High CPU Frequency Mode’ that achieves clock speeds of up to 3.85GHz—representing a 10 percent boost from the PS5’s clock speed of 3.5GHz.
The report explains that in ‘High CPU Frequency Mode,’ more resources are dedicated to the CPU, resulting in a slight downclock of the GPU by approximately 1.5 percent, which translates to about 1 percent lower GPU performance overall.
Further leaks indicate that audio capabilities will also be enhanced in the PS5 Pro, with claims that “The ACV in the PlayStation 5 Pro operates at a higher clock speed compared to the standard PlayStation 5, delivering a 35 percent performance increase in the ACM library.”
In addition, the PS5 Pro is expected to feature a detachable disc drive akin to the newer slim version of the standard PS5, along with 1TB of storage.
Recently leaked documents from the PlayStation developer portal highlighted GPU advances for the PS5 Pro. Reportedly, the new console will achieve 45 percent faster rendering than its predecessor and provide “2-3x Ray-tracing performance (with some instances reaching x4).” It is also said to offer nearly three times the compute power of the PS5, featuring 33.5 teraflops of single-precision compute power in comparison to the PS5’s 10.28 teraflops. For reference, the Xbox Series X, which is touted as the most powerful console of its generation, delivers 12 teraflops of compute power.
Although Sony has yet to officially announce the PS5 Pro, historical context suggests a similar trajectory as the PS4 Pro, which arrived approximately three years after the original PS4 was released in November 2013. Therefore, a PS5 Pro may launch sooner than anticipated. In November of last year, Sony did release a slimmer model of the PS5 that features increased internal storage and a detachable disc drive while maintaining the original’s processing power and graphical capabilities.
Last month, analysts indicated that Sony is preparing the PS5 Pro for a launch in the latter part of 2024, aimed at boosting console sales amid concerns that the company would fall short of its PS5 sales targets for the fiscal year 2023. There is significant speculation that Sony plans to have this updated console available ahead of Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 6, expected to be released in 2025. Since its initial launch in November 2020, the PS5 has sold over 50 million units.
