➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Umami-heavy rumors

• 🔭 Sony may be looking to the future and prioritizing PlayStation 6 over PS5 Pro

• 📈 Demand remains strong for PS5, making big hardware changes unlikely

• 🎮 Rumored hardware update likely just small cost-saving iterations for the PS5

• 🤔 That said, this is all speculation – take it with a grain of salt

Despite Sony’s moves last generation, a PS5 Pro – and indeed, even a PS5 Mini – may not be in the cards, with Sony focusing on the next generation, instead, according to speculation by sometimes-reliable leaker Tom Henderson (via WCCFTech), seemingly responding to recent speculation of an incoming PlayStation 5 Pro.

The mid-cycle updates for the PS4 and Xbox One consoles brought us spec bumps and updated designs, and both updates proved to be popular amongst players during that generation of systems. That Sony and Microsoft – and even Nintendo, if you want to count the New 3DS – tried the strategy set an expectation that made the slightest supply chain rumors, software mentions and whispers in the wind easy to turn into rumors about so-called “pro” versions of the systems.

Yet things are different, now. The pandemic sent the supply chain roiling as crucial component manufacturers shut down at a time when demand for these products shot through the roof – see even Nintendo struggling to keep up with Animal Crossing-driven Switch buyers. Mid-cycle updates have seemingly proven to be a nice shot in the arm for console demand, but it doesn’t seem necessary now (rumors the never-announced Switch Pro was canceled internally suggest Nintendo feels the same way).

Tom Henderson @_Tom_Henderson_

As for if there's going to be a Pro version this generation, I'm not entirely sure. It doesn't feel like the regular version has been fully utilized yet and probably won't be on mass until the end of the year. All I can say is that I've heard more about the PS6 than a PS5 Pro.

9:02 PM ∙ Jan 23, 2023

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Henderson believes rumors about an updated PS5 are likely based on minor hardware revisions designed to bring down costs, rather than any significant product introduction, citing his personal experience hearing more about the PlayStation 6 than anything else. Personally, I would be surprised at Sony producing anything that could eat into sales of its forthcoming PSVR2, which looked when we went hands-on.

In short: while there are certainly reasons to think Tom’s speculation is correct (we called the PS5 Pro unlikely in our 2023 tech predictions), there is no way to corroborate it. We’ll be keeping our eye on any new developments with the PS5 (see our PS5 DualSense Edge controller review), so for now… as you were.