Sony's PS5 is still months away, but there are already hints that a Pro model may be on the way, and it may feature multiple GPUs.

At the very least, a new Sony patent flagged by TweakTown details a "scalable gaming console" with CPU and GPU designs for "home and cloud gaming." It suggests a future PlayStation console with virtually two graphics accelerators to supercharge its power.

The two GPUs will be offered in APU form. The PS5 and Xbox Series X both use AMD's custom APUs, so the same is expected for the consoles detailed in the patent.

However, things are not that simple. The patent details how the console will connect to a "cloud gaming management server," suggesting that the two GPUs will be used to smooth cloud-based game streaming rather than providing pure pixel-pushing power

In fact, the authors note that "the two GPUs are not used to provide pure pixel push power, but to facilitate cloud-based game streaming.

In effect, Sony's patent summary covers both bases by discussing how a high-end console could have two GPUs and also have a version optimized for cloud-powered game streaming.

"SoC technology can be applied to video simulation consoles, such as game consoles, specifically providing a single SoC for a "light" version of the console while using multiple SoCs with greater processing and storage capacity than a "light" version. The "high-end" version of the console can be provided," the patent states." The "high-end" system can also have more memory, such as random access memory (RAM), and can be used in cloud-optimized versions of the same console chip with higher performance."

This is an interesting patent to chew on and gives the impression that the PS5 could be a mid-generation refresh, just as the PS4 did with the PS4 Pro. Of course, many patents are ideas that never come to fruition, and this case could be one of those.

It is also worth noting that dual GPUs on a single chipset, or even a single machine, are difficult to make work well together for gaming performance: the two graphics accelerators need to communicate with each other effectively and at high speed, and the two GPUs need to be able to work together to achieve the same performance. In addition, shared resources, power consumption, and thermal management must be considered. All of these make it difficult to build a dual-GPU dedicated gaming console at an affordable price.

With 10.28 teraflops of computer power, 16GB of RAM, 825GB of custom NVMe SSD, and 3D audio capabilities, the PS5 will not be a slow or poorly equipped gaming machine as it is. As such, it is unlikely that such a professional version will appear anytime soon.

However, if the patent is more cloud gaming-specific, it would not be surprising to see an inexpensive gaming machine dedicated to PlayStation Now game streaming if Sony expands its PlayStation Now streaming service. Such a machine would likely challenge the rumored Xbox Series S, a lower-performance Xbox Series X designed to support game streaming like Project xCloud.

In the short term, Sony will likely focus on the PS5 and its Digital Edition, developing first-party games for the next-generation console. In the long term, Sony could announce a PS5 Pro, but we would not bet on such a prediction just yet.