When it release the PS4 Pro back in 2016, Sony arguably let the genie out of the bottle when it came to upgrading a console midway through its life cycle without calling the new product a full new generation step-up.
Now that the PS5 has been out for a little while, then, it's hardly a big leap to assume that it might also get a minor or major upgrade at some point, without Sony feeling the need to announce a full-on PlayStation 6 for a long while. Here are all the rumours and details we know about what might be coming down the line in terms of a PS5 Pro.
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PS5 Pro price and release date
The biggest factor around a potential PS5 Pro for many people will be what price tag Sony attaches to it - since the £450 or $499 PS5 is still so hard to come by, if the PS5 Pro eventually appears at a higher price it might be hard to justify spending more on it.
Taking the PS4's generation of consoles as our example, the PS4 Pro has consistently sat at around £100 or $100 more than the base PS4, even as those prices have been steadily cut, to maintain the angle that it is the higher-powered and more premium option.
However, by the time it launched, the original PS4 had a lower price, so we'd assume Sony might follow the same track and release the PS5 Pro at the exact same price as the PS5, while making the base model cheaper.
When exactly this might happen is a long shot, but we can't see it hitting shelves before late 2023, frankly. Given the huge shortage of materials that it's working with, Sony still can't make enough PS5s to meet demand. Whether it will want to muddy the waters with a new model so quickly is anyone's guess.
PS5 Pro design
When the PS5 was first unveiled its design was an immediate talking point, all white and black contrast, and those large wingtips make it an even more imposing installation on whatever TV stand or countertop you put it on.
That's equally true of both the standard version and the digital edition that trims away the disc drive for those who don't want or need it. It raises an interesting question about the next version of the PS5, though - will it stay in the same aesthetic?
Based on the precedent of the PS4 Pro, we think it should stay pretty similar, but we'll be interested to see if it gets bigger since the PS5 is already pretty huge, or whether it can in fact manage to squeeze even more power in a smaller frame.
PS5 Pro specs
The PS5 is a powerhouse of a console, as is clear from the exclusives that it's so far hosted, with graphical highlights in the form of Demon's Souls, Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart and more.
When the PS4 Pro was released it had a fairly clear selling point in the form of its 4K capabilities, which was a resolution that the base PS4 simply couldn't cope with.
That sort of easy USP isn't as obviously available for a PS5 Pro, but even this early in its cycle you can tell that outputting at 4K with graphical flourishes like ray-tracing is a real strain for the PS5, just as it is for the Xbox Series X.
8K televisions are starting to spread a little, so it's possible that true 8K support for gaming could be on the menu, but we suspect that the technology is still too cost-prohibitive to be worth it for Sony in the next year or two.
Instead, Sony might take the approach of more iterative improvements, like an upgrade to the console's CPU and an increase to its slightly small storage (at 825GB presently).
We also don't know whether a PS5 Pro would come in two editions, one with a disc drive and one without, like the standard PS5 has - it might be that at the more premium end of the market the disc drive is simply more widely accepted as part of the complete package.
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