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The new PS5 Pro is a powerful upgrade with a monster price tag
- Sony just unveiled the new PS5 Pro, which will become available in November.
- The new console combines more power and AI to address the trade-off between graphics and performance in the PS5.
- Those looking to buy the PS5 Pro will face an eye-watering $699.99 price tag in the US.
Sony launched the PlayStation 5 four years ago and gave gamers two options: run their next-generation games in Performance Mode, sacrificing graphic detail for smooth gameplay, or go with Fidelity Mode for image quality above all else. Having the choice is great, but having both is better — and that is just the solution that Sony is offering with the newly launched PS5 Pro.
In addition to Sony’s formal announcement, lead architect Mark Cerny explains what the new console brings to the table. And while features take the spotlight here, less focus is given to the price tag, which some might argue is hard to justify.
The aim of combining the 60FPS framerates of Performance Mode with the extra graphic sharpness of Fidelity Mode is achieved in three ways. More power is the most obvious upgrade, with the new GPU offering 67% more Compute Units and 28% faster memory than the PS5, enabling up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay.
Advanced ray tracing allows the rays to be cast at double or triple the speeds of the original device, and no 2024 release would be complete without an artificial intelligence boost. AI-driven upscaling is used to achieve what Sony refers to as Spectral Super Resolution. This essentially means that machine learning can fill in the gaps in detail, like we’re familiar with from NVIDIA DLSS.
On top of this three-pronged performance upgrade, VRR and 8K gaming are also supported, the console uses Wi-Fi 7 for optimal connectivity, and PS5 Pro Game Boost can stabilize or improve the performance of more than 8,500 backwards compatible PS4 games.
The upgrades are certainly impressive, but it’s evolution rather than revolution. The same can’t be said for the retail price, which is a steep increase from the PS5. The new console will retail for $699.99 in the US, £699.99 in the UK, €799.99 in the Eurozone, and ¥119,980 in Japan. You do get a 2TB SSD for that, but no optical drive, so you’ll have to open your wallet again if you want to read discs.
If you can stomach the cost, preorders for the PS5 Pro will begin on September 26, with the console going on general sale on November 7.