Sony Announces PlayStation 4 Pro That Offers 4K HDR Gaming And Video Streaming

Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 4 Pro, the more powerful version of the original PS4 and was previously known as the Neo. The company also revealed that the PS4 Pro will sell for $399 and will be available starting Nov. 10.

The PlayStation 4 Pro comes with a faster processor, a larger 1TB SSD storage and it’s capable of playing 4K resolution games, according to the Wall Street Journal. The PS4 Pro has twice the GPU (graphics) power thanks to AMD’s Polaris graphics architecture enabling it to run games in 4K resolution and in HDR (high dynamic range). Inside the PlayStation 4 Pro is a x86-64 AMD Jaguar octa-core CPU, a 4.20 TFLOPS AMD Radeon GPU and 8GB of GDDR5 memory (RAM).

Luckily, the PlayStation 4 Pro isn’t only for gamers with 4K or HDR capable TVs as developers can also use the console’s extra power for improving visual fidelity of games on standard 1080p full HD TVs, according to GameSpot. Developers are already working on adding software patches on current PS4 games to take advantage of the PS4 Pro’s upgraded hardware.

Speaking of games, all current and future PS4 games will be able to run on the original console and on the new PlayStation 4 Pro. The only difference between the original and the Pro model is how games will look and run.

Publishers like Activision and Electronic Arts (EA) both announced upcoming games that will be able to take full advantage of the PlayStation 4 Pro’s capabilities. Activision says that “Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare” and “Modern Warfare 4 Remastered” will support the PS4 Pro’s hardware, while “Black Ops 3” will receive an update. EA, on the other hand, has confirmed PS4 Pro support for “FIFA 17”, “Battlefield 1” and “Mass Effect: Andromeda.”

The PlayStation 4 Pro isn’t only bringing 4K and HDR to games either as Sony announced that the Netflix and YouTube app will be getting updates as well. Select Netflix titles like the second season of “Narcos” and the upcoming “Marvel’s Luke Cage” series will be available to stream in 4K and HDR on the PS4 Pro, while 4K streaming will be supported for the YouTube app.

Overall, the PlayStation 4 Pro appears to be a minor upgrade from the original that’s comparable to Apple’s “S” upgrade for iPhones. The only real disappointment with the newly announced console is that it can’t play 4K resolution Blu-ray discs, something that Microsoft’s Xbox One S is already capable of.

Sony has decided to bring 4K support for gaming and streaming services only. Apparently, the company did this because they believe that the PlayStation 4 Pro is “primarily for gaming,” according to The Verge. As for HDR gaming, Sony is a bit more generous as it also announced that all PlayStation 4 models will be getting support for them with the new system update next week.