Sony will unveil PlayStation 5 Pro later today at a “technical presentation”

Eagerly awaited: Sony may be preparing to reveal the next stage of development of its PlayStation 5 console during the company’s “technical presentation” later today. Hosted by PS5 lead architect Mark Cerny, the event is said to focus on “innovations in gaming technology.” The event begins at 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm UK and will be streamed on PlayStation’s YouTube channel.

Although Sony has not yet directly confirmed the release of the new console, a trail of leaks and clues suggests that the PS5 Pro will be the focus.

An official teaser in Sony’s recent PlayStation 30th anniversary announcement included a sketch (below) showing what the PS5 Pro looks like. If that’s any indication, the model will visually resemble the PS5 Slim model and retain the sleek white color scheme. However, it will feature some stylish black stripe accents to set it apart from the standard edition.

More important than the looks are the inner values. Several leaks indicate that the Pro will have a significant increase in performance thanks to a new AMD “Trinity” chip. This chip will have the same CPU as the base PS5, but will enable a higher clock frequency of 3.85 GHz in a special “High CPU Frequency Mode”.

The real star, however, would be the GPU. Leaks suggest that it would deliver 33.5 teraflops, while the standard model manages 10.28 teraflops. However, that doesn’t mean the console will be three times as powerful as the current model.

The leaks also suggest that the Pro will use AI-powered upscaling called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) to boost ray tracing performance by two to three times in supported games. Combine that with a speedy 2TB Gen4 SSD and you’ve got a monstrous console on paper.

Despite these improvements, the PS5 Pro is expected to consume 200W, the same power as the standard PS5, and is rumored to run cooler as well.

Tune in tomorrow for a PlayStation 5 technical presentation with Mark Cerny

The 9-minute stream begins on September 10 at 8:00 a.m. PT (4:00 p.m. BST). Full details: pic.twitter.com/qGUF0Yj9Ia

– PlayStation (@PlayStation) 9 September 2024

Many of these specs came to light when YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead leaked official documents from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Developer Network. Sony took the documents down shortly afterward, effectively confirming their authenticity.

There are also rumors that Sony has secured limited-time exclusive marketing rights for Grand Theft Auto 6 on the PS5 lineup, so we could see Rockstar’s next open-world epic heavily featured upon release, showcasing the system’s capabilities.

If reports prove accurate, the Pro will rival the higher-end Xbox Series X as the most powerful console on the market. With upgrades across the board, it could redefine our expectations for mid-cycle hardware upgrades.