Sony has officially unveiled the long-rumored PS5 Pro, and during a nine-minute PS5 technical showcase presentation hosted by PlayStation lead architect Mark Cerny, the mid-gen refresh console's capabilities were glimpsed for the first time To be sure, the PS5 Pro is a significant upgrade from the PS5 But Sony's new console does not come cheap

With the PS5, we often had to choose between fidelity (high resolution) or performance (high frame rate) modes for most titles; the PS5 Pro effectively merges these two modes into one, with enhanced processing power to deliver sharp graphics and smoother gameplay This is thanks to three key performance features

The PS5 Pro features a GPU with 67% more compute units and 28% faster memory than the PS5 As a result, gameplay rendering is up to 45% faster, and according to Mark Cerny, game play feels smoother

The console also features more powerful ray tracing than its predecessor As seen in the showcase, games will see more dynamic light reflections and refractions According to Sony, this will allow the PS5 to project lighting two to three times faster than the PS5

The PS5 Pro will also introduce PlayStation®Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) This AI-powered upscaling technology (PS5 Pro's answer to Nvidia's DLSS frame boosting technology) will help deliver a sharper image while maintaining a higher frame rate

Also enhanced is a feature called PS5 Pro Game Boost, which allows users to play more than 8,500 PS4 backward compatible games on the PS5 Pro According to Sony, this feature “may” help stabilize or improve the performance of compatible PS4 and PS5 games In addition, the enhanced image quality feature for PS4 games will improve the resolution of some PS4 games Finally, the PS5 Pro will support Wi-Fi 7 (if supported), VRR, and 8K gaming

The PS5 Pro is priced at $69999/£69999/1,19995 Australian dollars (about 80,000 Japanese yen), which is not cheap This includes the console itself, a 2TB SSD, a DualSense wireless controller, and a digital copy of Astro's Playroom (not to be confused with Astro Bot) This is a diskless console, so if you need a disk drive, you will need to purchase a PS5 disk drive separately for $79 / £100 / A$159

The PS5 Pro will be available on November 7, 2024, and PS5 Pro pre-orders will begin on September 26