Sony announces PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim gaming consoles

The most alluring feature about the PS4 Pro happens to be what Sony calls “Forward Compatibility,” where the existing consoles games can take advantage of the 4K HDR features of the Pro console via the means of a software patch. Sony did make it clear that releasing this patch was up to the game developer and not the console maker itself.

Alongside the PS4 Pro, Sony also announced the PS4 Slim, which is going to be just called the PlayStation 4. The Japanese company is going to phase out the existing, what could be called fat, PS4, and replacing them with a slimmer version of the console. There is no hardware update to the prowess of the console, so if you were expecting some performance bump, you will be somewhat disappointed.

The silver lining for the PS4 owners (whether the new slimmer model or the existing fat ones) is that Sony has announced that it will bring HDR gaming to the existing consoles via a software update. The new Sony PS4 will be available September 15 onwards for a retail price of $299.

If, for some reason you’re still on a previous generation console and are looking to upgrade, Sony has just announced something powerful that will be available a lot sooner than Microsoft’s competitor. The Redmond company just released the Xbox One S, which does HDR gaming, but cannot handle gaming in 4K resolution. In comparison, Sony’s Slimmer console is spec’d the same way, capable of HDR gaming through a software patch, but not 4K. However, Sony does beat Microsoft to the 4K punch with the PS4 Pro releasing this November as against next holiday season when the 4K HDR capable Xbox Scorpion is slated for release.