AMD will release a new Z2 Extreme mobile processor for portable consoles in early 2025. Information about this was voiced in a conversation between representatives of AMD and Microsoft with the Digital Trends portal. The Z2 Extreme is expected to optimize power consumption for portable consoles.
Image Source: Jacob Roach/Digital Trends
The current Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme chips belong to the Phoenix series. They offer up to 8 Zen 4 cores and up to 12 execution units of integrated RDNA 3 graphics. AMD has already released the successor to Phoenix, the Strix Point processors (Ryzen AI 300), offering up to 8 Zen 5 cores and up to 16 RDNA 3.5 units. However, these chips, unlike the Ryzen Z1 and Z1 Extreme, are intended primarily for laptops. Ryzen AI 300 chips can, in theory, also be used in portable consoles, since they have a customizable dynamic TDP ranging from 15 to 54 W. However, none of the manufacturers have yet presented solutions based on them.
The difference between the Ryzen Z series processors for portable consoles and regular Phoenix mobile chips also lies in the AI engine (NPU) that is disabled in the former. It is likely that the Z2 Extreme will also have its NPU disabled, but given the increased attention to AI technologies from AMD lately, everything may change. There is also a difference in the release of updates. Drivers for Ryzen Z processor-based devices are the responsibility of the device’s OEM, not AMD. Again, this may change with the release of the Z2 Extreme.
It is very likely that the first set-top boxes to receive AMD Z2 series processors will be ROG Ally 2 and Lenovo Legion Go 2. The current models of these devices are equipped with Ryzen Z1 Extreme processors (ROG Ally 2023 is also offered based on the six-core Ryzen Z1).
AMD did not specify when exactly it will introduce the new series of Ryzen Z2 chips. Perhaps this will happen at CES 2025 in January.