It’s been more than three years since the PS5 was first launched. Plagued with supply-chain problems throughout much of its lifetime, the full-fat PS5 that everyone coveted for so long has now been put to pasture, making way for the PS5 Slim at the end of last year.

While some people have just upgraded their PlayStation 4 to a new PS5 Slim, rumours about a potential PS5 Pro machine continue to churn, and a PS5 Pro release date could be here sooner than you think.

The rumour mill has been going into overdrive since the launch of the PlayStation Portal. Reports suggest the mid-generation console is already in production and could be released sometime this year, with a big spec leak having dropped earlier this week.

So, when could the PS5 Pro launch, how much could it cost, and how much more powerful could it be, compared with the current-generation PS5? We’ve rounded up all the PS5 Pro rumours you need to know, as well as some of our own speculation.

While Sony hasn’t officially mentioned the new console yet, the PlayStation 5 Pro has been all but confirmed by insider sources. Tech news site The Verge reportedly obtained a complete spec list for the new console, as well as confirmation that developers are being instructed to make their upcoming games compatible with the as-yet-unannounced hardware.

That means new games will be designed to run on the basic PS5 as well as the PS5 Pro, with the latter console providing better graphics and performance. Existing games can be patched to take advantage of the new hardware, but every game will be designed to run on any version of the PS5 – that’s to say, anyone with an original PS5 won’t miss out on new releases.

A significant portion of the PS5 Pro’s leaks have come to us from Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, and the publication is continuing to deliver the goods in 2024.

Henderson claimed in a new report that the PS5 Pro will see a RAM boost of 28 per cent and a huge GPU boost of 67 per cent, which would see the next-generation machine run a whole 45 per cent faster than the current PS5 Slim. He added that Sony wants all games to run at a smooth 60fps, and is looking at improving ray tracing. You can read more of the latest leaks and rumours below.

There is no official word on the PS5 Pro’s existence yet, let alone a release date, but a combination of our own guesswork, based on previous console releases, and leaker reports, suggests the mid-cycle console could launch later this year.   

Firstly, let’s take a look at the PS4. Sony launched the PS4 in November 2013 and announced the mid-generation PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim follow-up consoles in September 2016 before releasing both in November that year, leaving a three-year gap between the two machines.

The PS3 and PS3 Slim had a similar window of time between consoles. The PS3 was released in November 2006, and the PS3 Slim was announced by Sony in August 2009 and released in September that year, leaving another three years between the original console and the mid-generation upgrade.

Starting to see a pattern? Sony appears to announce a mid-generation console upgrade in the summer before it turns three, then launches the machine in the autumn – sometime between September and November. This machine turned out to be the PS5 Slim.

The fairly reliable outlet Insider Gaming suggests the PS5 Pro is in active development and could be released in late 2024. The report says the 2024 PS5 Pro is separate from the PS5 Slim, with a detachable disc drive.

In May 2023, Insider Gaming published a report stating “although the PlayStation 5 Pro could be cancelled at any given time”, it can say “with 100 per cent degree of certainty that the PlayStation 5 Pro is currently in development”.

It added that the first developer kit prototypes would be going to first-party developers “within the next couple of months”, and that third-party developers would be receiving them by the end of the year. It reiterated that the rumoured console is expected to launch in late 2024.

Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, this time writing for Key to Gaming, stated the PS5 Pro is codenamed Project Trinity, keeping with the Matrix-themed codenames used for previous gaming releases. He alleged in July 2023 that Sony is already hosting demonstrations with developers.

In a December 2023 YouTube stream, gaming insider Jeff Grubb revealed that industry insiders had told him a mid-generation PS5 console is likely to launch in September 2024. He stated it would feature Sony’s own proprietary AI model to upscale content, giving games a higher resolution and a higher frame rate. 

In August 2022, Sony took the unprecedented decision to increase the price of the PS5 by £30 in the UK, meaning it now costs £479.99 for the PS5 disc edition console.

When it comes to the PS5 Pro’s price, it might cost the same as the current-generation PS5, if Sony sticks to tradition. The PS4 cost £349.99 at launch, and when the company brought out the PS4 Pro, it too had a price tag of £349.99.      

In his YouTube video, Jeff Grubb also speculated the PS5 Pro could cost around $600 – that’s $100 more than the PS5 Slim. If the price increase also applies to the UK, the PS5 Pro could cost £579 over here. More PS5 Pro rumours lie ahead.

The latest PS5 Pro leaks suggest the console has a major focus on ray-traced graphics, a rendering technique that results in more realistic lighting and reflections in games, and an area in which the Xbox Series X has already been succeeding.

The Verge reports that the new PS5 will have a 45 per cent faster GPU (graphics processing unit) and run on an overclocked variant of the standard PS5’s CPU – so the same physical chip, but allowed to run 10 per cent faster at the expense of drawing more power and producing more heat.

Most of the PS5 Pro rumours have come from Tom Henderson’s Key to Gaming report in July 2023. The leaker said his sources suggest the PS5 Pro will feature a GPU with 18,000 MT/s memory and 30 WGP (workgroup processor). “The PlayStation 5 Pro will be targeting improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution, a new ‘performance mode’ for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing,” he said.

It’s likely the PS5 Pro will have a new and upgraded AMD chip. AMD posted a job listing on LinkedIn in May 2022, searching for someone who would work on the RDNA chips that power the PlayStation and Xbox consoles. In the ad, the company said the role would involve work on a “next-generation chip development project”.

According to RedGamingTech, the PS5 Pro could be twice as fast as the PS5 (though the leaker doesn’t go into specifics), and could be 2.5 times more powerful with ray tracing turned on. The PS5 already has ray tracing. A patent filed by Sony’s lead system architect of the PS4 and PS5, Mark Cerny, in 2022 suggests the next PlayStation console could see an update to ray tracing.

In a January 2023 report, Phonandroid also claimed the PS5 Pro will include liquid cooling for better heat management. That said, the publication also reported the PS5 Pro would be launching in April 2023, and, obviously, that didn’t happen. 

In terms of what we’d like and what we expect to see? Increased CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit) performance is a must, and 8K resolution is a potential new feature. We’d also like to see the PS5 Pro support Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision for UHD discs. It could be even bigger than the PS5, given that the PS4 Pro was slightly bigger than the PS4. 

On 15 August 2023, the YouTube gaming insider channel RedGamingTech released a tranche of new information regarding the specs of the PS5 Pro, stating in the video that it will be twice as powerful as the current PS5, and that you’ll be able to play games at 60fps with ray tracing enabled, something PCs with high-end graphics cards can achieve. Right now, the PS5 can only run 60fps games in 4k without ray tracing.

The YouTuber released a second video on 23 August 2023, disputing one detail in the first report regarding the CPU. RedGamingTech originally claimed the PS5 would feature a Zen 4 microarchitecture, but the leaker now suggests it will still be based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture found in the current PS5.

Considering there hasn’t been any confirmation yet of the PS5 Pro’s existence, it’s tricky to say whether you should wait for the announcement or just buy the current-generation PS5 Slim console now.

If the rumours are true, the PS5 Pro will be more powerful than the PS5, potentially featuring a faster chipset, better ray tracing and 8K support. But the PS5 Slim is the best console Sony has ever made, and you’ll potentially be missing out on incredible next-gen gaming for another year.

You might have to cough up even more cash to secure a PS5 Pro, too, but Sony might also choose to keep the price the same. A healthy compromise might be to buy the PS5 Slim now and trade it in at a third-party retailer once the PS5 Pro is officially unveiled if you decide you want to upgrade.