PS5 Pro Said to Come With Improved Ray-Tracing Performance as Developers Gear Up for Sony's High-End Console

Sony is said to be readying a Pro version of the PlayStation 5, a more powerful variant of its current-generation console. While the Japanese electronics giant has not yet confirmed the existence of the PS5 Pro, multiple leaks from credible sources have detailed the improvements coming to the console. Newly leaked documents have outlined the specifications for PS5 Pro, suggesting an upgraded console with vastly improved ray-tracing performance in demanding titles.

In documents outlining the PS5 Pro to game developers, Sony reportedly told developers to increase focus on ray-tracing features in games with the PS5 Pro. The documents, obtained by The Verge, also refer to a “Trinity Enhanced” (PS5 Pro Enhanced) label that could come with games that “provide significant enhancements.”

Just as previous leaks suggested, the report said, citing the documents, that GPU rendering on the PS5 Pro was expected to be “about 45 percent faster than standard PlayStation 5.”

Codenamed Trinity, the PS5 Pro will reportedly employ a “more powerful ray tracing architecture” with up to thrice the speeds of the standard PS5. The leaked documents reportedly suggest that Sony will continue to sell the regular PS5 alongside the Pro model, with future titles expected to launch in a single package for both consoles. Older games could be patched to bring up the performance to match the PS5 Pro hardware.

Aside from the documents that list the full specifications of the PS5 Pro, The Verge's report also cited sources familiar with Sony's plans, claiming that the PlayStation parent had already begun asking developers to ensure their upcoming games were compatible with the PS5 Pro, with a larger focus on delivering ray-tracing improvements. According to the report, Sony expects every game submitted to certification in August to be supported on the PS5 Pro. Additionally, developers can now reportedly order test kits of the PS5 Pro, too.

As previously reported by Insider Gaming, the PS5 Pro will come with the same eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU as the standard PS5, but with a high frequency mode that targets clock speeds of up to 3.85GHz, Sony reportedly said in the new documents. Developers will be able to choose between the standard 3.5GHz mode and the “high CPU frequency mode” at 3.85GHz. Additionally, the upcoming console will also get improvements to the system memory.

Previous leaks had claimed that the PS5 Pro would also feature up to three times the computational power of PS5 — 33.5 teraflops of single-precision compute power compared to the PS5's 10.28 teraflops.

The Pro variant of the PS5 is expected to debut later this year, most likely during the holiday season to boost sales. Sony launched the slim version of the PS5, which comes with a detachable disc drive, in India earlier this month.