Sony has launched a new update for their PlayStation 5 system software on September 16, 2026, providing firmware version 26.06-14.00.00 for both PS5 and PS5 Pro models.
This is preceded by a beta version that was published the previous month, offering most of the changes available now but to a limited number of testers before Sony released them to the entire PlayStation 5 community.
Users who have their consoles on automatic updates will already be able to enjoy the latest firmware without any additional efforts.
Despite there being no significant upgrade of the system, some small changes have been made in order to improve visual aspects, social functions, and accessories management.
The most important new change, however, pertains specifically to PS5 Pro users. Indeed, Sony has enabled "Enhance PSSR Image Quality" by default in this update, which means that there will be plenty of people with PS5 Pro consoles who will see better graphics right after playing their games because they will have done nothing special to achieve that effect.
The feature uses an updated version of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution – Sony's AI-powered technology – and processes even those games that were designed exclusively for an earlier iteration of the technology.
The technology was not something completely new to Sony. Indeed, Enhanced PSSR Image Quality was launched in March 2026; yet, in order to use the feature, one needed to go into the settings menu and enable it manually.
With the September update, this will no longer be necessary, and it is likely that a large amount of PS5 Pro owners will start enjoying the improved graphics without ever noticing they were supposed to manually enable that feature.
Those gamers who prefer the older rendering algorithm, however, still will be able to turn off Enhance PSSR Image Quality under Settings, then Screen and Video, then Video Output.
In addition to the visual modifications, there are several additions that will affect interactions between players in online gameplay.
There is a new screen display option allowing the user to learn about who is speaking at the moment in voice chat, which is available through the voice chat card from the control center after selecting “More,” then “Display Who’s Speaking,” and finally, “Display Names.”
This new option is intended to make voice chats more convenient for multiple people, especially if it’s hard to recognize the speaker due to the number of participants.
Also, Sony added the Community Activity widget to the Welcome Hub in order to provide the users with an easy way to learn about activities of other players from their community.
In addition, it now includes a Turn Off Bluetooth function that users can find via Settings, then Accessories, then General, then Advanced Settings.
This feature was implemented by Sony taking into account the gaming world and especially esports tournaments where the proper connection of wireless controllers and the exclusion of other Bluetooth device interference may be critical.
With its implementation, gamers and tournament organizers are provided with an easier way to separate controllers from other wireless devices.
Overall, the new functions included in the latest update continue to demonstrate that Sony follows the trend of addressing the issues of the most active users of their gaming console, such as competitive gamers and gamers who often participate in large group chats.
The firmware update was released in the same month when there were a few notable PlayStation events of the year.
In September 2026, there was a State of Play event organized by Sony which lasted almost two hours, followed by a State of Play Japan session where there were details revealed about highly expected games such as Final Fantasy VII Revelation, Until Dawn 2, Hunter's Moon survival horror game, and Gundam: Rogue Orbit which is a mecha game.
There were some other noteworthy releases as well on the gaming console in the same month, such as Marvel's Wolverine and Onimusha: Way of the Sword.
