When will we have a new version of the PlayStation 5? For this we have no answer, since Sony has not ruled. But we can pull from the newspaper library: the PS4 took three years to receive a new version, does this mean anything? Yes and no.
Following the launch of the PS4 in November 2013, both the PlayStation 4 Slim and the higher-end PlayStation 4 Pro appeared in September 2016. The same was true of the PlayStation 3, which had another three-year lag between its launch in 2006 and the Slim version in 2009.
If Sony follows the same schedule, we could see a PS5 Slim and/or PS5 Pro in late 2023. Although the reality is that the technology sector is experiencing a very unflattering moment of inflation, despite the fact that Sony has managed to offer normal stock of its PS5 after two years of scarcity.
The first new console could be the cheaper and better-cooled PlayStation 5 Slim, based on the latest chip-making technology. The next one we would expect would be the improved PlayStation 5 Pro version, capable of offering higher resolution and fps.
What we know about the PS5 Slim so far
The latest rumors from TheLeak suggest that the redesigned PS5 is on the way, but it may not be called the PS5 Slim. However, the goal will still be to reduce size and weight.
A die shrink (as it is technically called to lower an existing SoC nanometers) could help reduce power consumption and, in turn, temperature. The modified chassis should also be able to stand upright without the need for a stand.
Apparently, production will start in the second quarter of next year and sales in the third. That is to say, in mid-2024 Sony would get to work to mass-produce the PS5 Slim and start selling it after the return of summer.
PS5 Pro and everything we know to date
The PlayStation 5 console has already undergone some changes during these almost three years. Firmware updates have added the VRR, while at the hardware level the August launch of the CFI-1202 model reduced the weight of the version with a Blu-ray drive by 300 grams.
The internal chipset of the current PS5 is said to be quite large. A reduction of the original processors of 7 nm to new manufacturing technology 3nm touted by TMSC, the company that makes the AMD-designed chips, could save a lot of space. And all this gives rise to very possible changes for the better in the near future.
Some may consider the rumors of a new PlayStation 5 Pro absurd. Well, there are many players who could not get hold of one due to the obvious supply problems that have just ended.
And it is that although the PS5 seems like a new device, it is already more than two years old. The history of releasing updates throughout the lifetime of the generation is not a new thing for Sony. The company started this trend with the release of the PS4 Pro.
The top model came three years after the PS4 became a thing. The PS4 launched in November 2013, and the Pro arrived in November 2016. The PS5 launched at the end of 2020, so in November 2023, the console will be three years old.
If Sony follows the same pattern, la PS5 Pro could launch in November of this year. The big question is whether they will dare to put a new console on the market after two years of shortage of units. And about its power we know absolutely nothing, only that it should perform more than the current PS5.
Release date and price of the PS5 Pro and PS5 Slim
To this day we do not know anything for sure about these two possible versions of PlayStation 5, although the newspaper library is on our side: Sony has always released new versions of its consoles 3 years after the launch of the one that inaugurated the generation.
History tells us that during this year or the next (if Sony wants to give a little oxygen to its recent relaunch of the PS5 as stock problems have been solved) we could see the family grow in two new directions.
Regarding the price, it would be very rare to see the PS5 Pro below 600 euros after the increase in the price of the normal models (they went up 50 euros last year). And the PS5 Slim could end up replacing the current model of PS5, so It would come out to about 500 euros with almost total security.