PlayStation 5 Pro announcement adds credibility to handheld reports

YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead leaked that Sony had collaborated with AMD for a new handheld console that would run PS4 and PS5 games if an upgraded patch-up was introduced. Sony’s latest announcement on the release of PS5 Pro resurfaced these rumors, adding more credibility to the YouTuber’s claims.

Sony revealed the PlayStation 5 Pro will launch later this year on September 10, along with the system’s specs and price. The announcement corroborated Moore’s Law is Dead sentiments earlier this year that plans for a new handheld that could locally run PS4 and selected PS5 games if the company released a PS5 Pro version.

PlayStation’s handheld leak gains more credibility 

In February, YouTuber and leaker Moore’s Law is Dead, also known as Tom, suggested Sony had contracted AMD to design a new handheld console. The leak did not gain much traction, especially after the company had the video brought down for copyright infringement. 

The YouTuber ranked Tier 4 on the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit, which deemed him unreliable in the gaming community.

However, in March 2024, IGN reportedly backed up Tom’s information, and later, more leakers resonated with the theory. For instance, Anton Logvinov, a Russian journalist, also stated that Sony’s plans for a portable console were underway.

On September 10, Sony announced that PlayStation 5 Pro would launch later in the year, adding credibility to Tom’s leak. Gamers noted that the developer’s livestream mirrored Moore’s Law is Dead’s sentiments, such as the PS5 Pro having a 2TB SSD. They also noted that the YouTuber was correct about the AI-infused upscaling for PSSR. As a result, the developer’s announcement resurfaced Tom’s claims as fans wondered whether there was more to the handheld leak earlier this year.

Gamers highlight caveats to YouTuber’s resurfaced report 

Gamers noted a few caveats to Tom’s leak amid the new developments. Some of the caveats raised included Tom stating in the video that the console had not been greenlit for commercialization, which meant it could also be abandoned before an official release.

The YouTuber also stated that the company had not decided on the console’s design and was not guaranteed to launch soon. 

Tom claimed that he had communicated with some developers who had mentioned that the console could use 18 compute units. He added that, unlike its predecessors, the CU would enable it to run PS4 and PS5 games locally from the handheld without streaming.

He also revealed that the handheld would use a new design based on new CPUs and have a memory of 16GB. However, he expressed that the new handheld would only be accessible to gamers if Sony patched an upgraded PS5-compatible version.

Tom also raised concerns that the new PS handheld maybe two generations behind by its release. Therefore, he suggested that the handheld could be part of the PlayStation 6 and a weaker alternative in the Japanese market.