Without actually saying it exists, Sony have announced that the PS5 Pro will be revealed tomorrow, September 10th at 8:00am PT / 4:00pm BST. What the have announced is a “technical presentation” for the PlayStation 5, and as we already know what is inside the PS5 there’s only one thing this could be.
“The 9-minute Technical Presentation will focus on PS5 and innovations in gaming technology”, explains the PS Blog. That’s it, that’s all we’re getting from Sony even though they already leaked the console design themselves. The announcement was also leaked, we knew this was coming in the first half of September.
As for what is inside the upgraded console, here’s what has leaked/rumoured so far:
PS5 Pro Specs and Features
The PS5 Pro will follow in the footsteps of the PS4 Pro in offering a general spec bump when compared to the base PS5, aiming to give a general uplift to both performance and game fidelity. There will be a 28% boost in system memory speed, a 10% increase in CPU speed, and then a huge jump in GPU speed by some 45% with custom hardware dedicated to image upscaling.
CPU Speed and Power Management
On the CPU side of things, this will be achieved with a High CPU Frequency Mode which allows it to hit 3.85Ghz, though this will be done by way of the dynamic power management that balances CPU and GPU power to reach the same power consumption. When in higher CPU modes, the GPU will be downclocked by 1.5%.
Memory
The system memory will jump from 448 GB/s to 576GB/s throughput, though newer memory types could see that figure jump further. Faster memory can have a big impact on the GPU performance, though it may be a bit disappointing that there’s no increase in memory from 16GB, which could potentially constrain the use of some more advanced ray tracing and other techniques.
Audio Performance
There’s also a higher clock speed for the audio processing, which will allow for more complex reverbs to be processed with 35% more performance.
PS5 Pro Release Date and Price
Additional last minute leaks about today’s PS5 Pro reveal include surprising details about its date and price, and a subsequent State of Play.
That’s no kind of revelation but what has been surprising is that combing back through the many rumours, it turns out that a little-know leaker managed to get both the date and the length of the presentation right last month.
Brian Potter is not a name that will be familiar to most people, and his account now seems to be suspended, but given the accuracy of the other information it seems likely that his other leaks are also true, including the price of the PS5 Pro being £589.99.
A DualSense Upgrade and State of Play
He also predicted an updated DualSense controller with ‘more battery life and enhanced triggers’, which it’s implied will be announced at the same time as the PS5 Pro and presumably released alongside it.
There’s already some evidence for this, as recent listings in the US and Australia show a mystery $5 (£3.82) price rise for the controller. There’s no stated reason for this but it could be because they’re the new models.
That gives much more weight to the rest of Potter’s predictions, as he reveals that the PS5 Pro will support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision for both physical media and some streaming services.
His prediction for the pricing and release date is a little odd though, as he claims that a digital-only version of the console, without a disc drive, will be released on November 14 for £499.99.
However, according to him, the disc version won’t launch until December 5, at a price of £589.99. That’s peculiar, especially given the disc version is usually the best-selling one, and suggests a scarcity of components or some other manufacturing delay.
That is, of course, assuming he’s right, but his final prediction is that a State of Play presentation is scheduled for September 19 and will focus on indie and third party games, with no Sony first party titles expected to feature prominently.
A number of other leakers have also suggested that a State of Play will follow a week after the PS5 Pro reveal, so again there’s already some precedence for what he’s saying.
What does it all mean?
What does that all mean to the layman? Slightly better puddles? Nicer lighting? Something tangible worth buying a new console for which will no doubt cost even more than a standard PS5? We shall have to wait and see.
If Potter turns out to be right about everything it’ll be a real shame they already seem to have disappeared, especially as nobody was paying attention to them when they were active.
The stream will be broadcast in English on the PlayStation YouTube channel September 10yh at 8:00am PT / 11:00am ET / 4:00pm BST.
