Despite being initially leaked before their proper CES 2025 keynote, AMD has finally announced the second generation if its processor for portable gaming and computing device, the Ryzen Z2 and as expected, the improvement shall give space for speculation that next-gen portable device are coming this year.
AMD announced three new Ryzen Z2 APUs designed specifically for gaming handhelds and these include the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, Ryzen Z2, and Ryzen Z2 Go.
Each APU targets different power levels and starting with the Ryzen Z2 Extreme features 8 cores (3 Zen 5 + 5 Zen 5c) and 16 RDNA 3.5 Compute Units, meanwhile the Ryzen Z2 has 8 Zen 4 cores and 12 RDNA 3 Compute Units.
Finally, the newest member of the family and debuting the Ryzen Z2 Go is designed for budget-conscious gamers with 4 Zen 3+ cores and 12 RDNA 2 Compute Units.
Needless to say that the Ryzen Z2 Extreme will be the flagship of the Ryzen Z2 family and each individual will power target devices, AMD acknowledged directly that the Ryzen Z2 Go was specifically designed for the Legion Go S, the entry-level variant of the Lenovo Go device.
While there is no official words on device carrying this new CPU family from AMD, it confirmed that the Ryzen Z2 will be used in systems from ASUS, Lenovo, and Valve, which pretty much will have many gamers eyes anticipating if 2025 will mean the year of a proper Steam Deck follow-up.
AMD expect to have the Ryzen Z2 available for PC and electronic manufactures within Q1 2025.