The base models were too expensive imo.... this is always why Xbox isnt makeing a Pro version.
They are already close to what they think doable, within a certain price that consumers will go for.

Also I suspect this is the last gen, we see a pro version..... unless 8k suddenly takes off mid next gen or something.
I feel like we havn't even had 4k that long, and that increaseing resolution might not be the optimal use of more power.
But who knows with tech, and what companies prioritise.

Look at nintendo with the Switch.... alot of games run 720p.. and its still doing fine.
I dont think we need 8k atm or in the near future.

I suspect FPS won't see a considerable improvement in CPU-intensive games. CPU will be the bottleneck again, so I wouldn't expect a huge increase in FPS on most AAA and ambitious games. The benefits will be higher resolutions and settings, more stable framerate, potentially more efficient raytracing, and little else.

As the generation goes, games will be a lot more demanding and native 4K on base consoles might go exinct outside indies, sports and smaller games.

Curious how Microsoft is going to react. They could release a much more powerful upgrade 2 years later, but then the gap between it and the Series S would be absolutely massive (much bigger than One S vs One X, let alone PS5 vs Pro).

CPU seems to make a big difference even at 4K👀

But the GPU is an RTX 4090.

I bought a PS5 earlier.

Not sure if I'll buy a stronger version...maybe I will - I also want to get a XSX eventually.

Supposedly the Series S, makes up like ~70% of the xbox sales.
Like you said, it would be a hassle to make 3 versions of the game, for the xbox side of things, and the differnce between them in performance would be huge.
Devs would not be happy about that, also you push things 2 years futher into the future, it might be abit late, for the developement cost of new hardware to yeild returns. Ontop of that Xbox has basically said, there will be no Pro versions from them this time around (they view the Xbox series X, as the pro version, and the Series S, as the "normal" console for this gen, from them. They just launched at the same time, instead of mid gen for the pro version). So I suspect there wont be any reaction from xbox side, PS5 pro will just be the most powerfull console, for the rest of the gen, from that point on.

There's no CPU bottleneck with console-grade hardware for games with proper multithreading if you're aiming for 60 fps, that was DF nonsense to save face for Starfield's controversial 30 fps decision (before recommended PC specs were released and featured a weaker-than-console CPU...).

It might exist for the ray-traced titles though, due to bounding volume hierarchies and other ray-tracing-related queries currently being handled by the CPU.

But if this is a ray-tracing-focused console, as rumors suggest it is, I suspect we'll see CPU improvements or dedicated hardware specifically to deal with this.

I think I upgraded from the ps4 to the pro for either $150 or $200 on a gamestop trade in at the time, can't remember what I got for the ps4. I more than likely would upgrade to ps5 pro if it's a similar cost to upgrade.

There absolutely will be games that struggle this gen for CPU reasons, we're already seeing it in a few 2023 games, and we have only recently exited the cross-gen period and started seeing games that target Xbox Series, PS5, and PC only, this generation will most likely last through 2028 before Xbox and Sony's next gen consoles release. 5 more years to get through as PC games begin to target Zen 4+ and Zen 5 CPU's on PC high end in the later years of the gen, a much bigger gap than there is now with them targeting Zen 4 on the high end vs Zen 2 on Xbox Series/PC. CPU bound games won't be as big of an issue on console as they were last gen, as relatively speaking, the 8 core Zen 2 CPU's in Xbox Series and PS5 are closer to modern PC CPU's than the Jaguar CPU's in Xbox One and PS4 were, but less CPU bound games than last gen doesn't mean that there will be no CPU bound games. 

Kyuu is right to say that the PS5 Pro likely won't help much with those CPU intensive games, just like PS4 Pro barely helped on them. Assuming that PS5 Pro is just an overclock of the current PS5 CPU that is, just like PS4 Pro was just an overclock of the PS4 CPU. Higher CPU clockrates will add a few fps to CPU bound games, but higher clocks alone can't get a game that runs at say 38 fps on PS5 up to more than maybe 47 fps on PS5 Pro, higher clocks alone are not going to magically allow a locked 60 fps on games that are that badly CPU bound. Now maybe Sony will go for more than just a CPU overclock this time, and actually upgrade PS5 Pro to a Zen 3 or Zen 4 CPU instead of sticking with Zen 2, but I'm doubtful that will happen, GPU and RAM upgrades, and likely a bigger SSD, will already be adding alot to their build cost, I get the feeling they won't want to charge more than $600 for PS5 Pro, so I can't see them doing much CPU wise beyond higher clockrates on the same Zen 2 CPU as PS5.

If there is a PS5 Pro I don't see that happening since not only ceding the power advantage but letting them have an outright big advantage in that regard for the 2nd half of the generation would be a significant disadvantage. 

Xbox's hands are kind of tied at this point because they did 2 consoles from the start of the gen. Their options basically are:

• Force developers to support 3 different Xbox Series spec tiers, S, X, and a new Pro tier. (This would anger a fair few devs, as some of them are already saying that Series S is a burden for them to develop for, if you make them support a 3rd Xbox console they may just decide to drop Xbox support altogether)
• Drop the requirement that devs make a Series S version of games and then release an Xbox Series Pro system more powerful than PS5 Pro. (This would anger Series S owners, as they were promised a full generation of game support, yet would only be getting that full generation of support from Xbox 1st and 2nd party devs, most 3rd parties would choose to drop Series S if Xbox dropped the requirement that devs support it)
• Stick with just Series S and Series X, and instead focus on making Xbox Series the pricing king this gen. They could drop Series S down to $250 soon and eventually $200 later this gen. They could drop Series X down to $400 later this year and then $350 next Holiday when PS5 Pro releases (or maybe release a cheaper, digital Series X model for $350 instead), which would make Series X the best price/performance console next Holiday, with specs that are only about 30-35% below PS5 Pro most likely, but priced probably $250 cheaper than PS5 Pro.

It's also worth noting that even if they choose to respond with a Pro console of their own, since one doesn't appear to already be in R&D based on recent Xbox statements, that it would basically take them 2 years from now to R&D and release the console, meaning that it would be releasing a year later than PS5 Pro itself, just like One X vs PS4 Pro. Releasing an Xbox Pro console Holiday 2025 just isn't a great idea, as the next gen Xbox console and PS6 will likely be Holiday 2028 releases, meaning people would be shelling out a likely $600 for a console that would only last the 3 remaining years of this generation and then the cross-gen period at the start of next-gen. They really needed to do a 2024 release for a Pro console, and that just doesn't seem to be in the cards, they'd have to rush through R&D very quickly in order to release a Pro console Holiday 2024 alongside PS5 Pro. 

One thing is for sure, I doubt Xbox will bother with 2 consoles at the start of next gen, it was a novel idea but it just hasn't worked out for them. I suspect they will release just 1 console at the start of next-gen, and then release Slim and Pro consoles middle of next gen. It may even be a good idea for them to go for a 1 year headstart, aim for a Holiday 2027 release since PS6 is likely targeting Holiday 2028. That 1 year headstart could have positive effects for them the entire gen just like it did on Xbox 360.