- AMD has announced Z2 series of processors for handhelds.
- It consists of vanilla Z2, Z2 Extreme, and Z2 Go.
- In terms of cores/threads, they feature 8/16, 8/16, and 4/8, respectively.
After a splashing success with the Steam Deck’s custom Aerith processor and the Z1 series, AMD’s next-generation processors for Handhelds are here. AMD claims the Z2 series has more to offer across all fronts, and that will certainly be put to the test. However, the main question right now isn’t how good it is, but rather which firm will take it up first.
The Z2 Series consists of the vanilla Z2, the Z2 Extreme, and a Z2 Go. Both the Z2 and Z2 Extreme feature 8 cores and 16 threads with a maximum boost frequency of 5.0 GHz and 5.1 GHz, respectively. The two major differences between them are their maximum cTDP and graphics cores.
While the Z2 Extreme sports a max cTDP of 35W and 16 graphics cores, the Z2 maxes out at 30W with four fewer graphics cores (12). Both have a 24 MB cache but it’s evident that the Z2 Extreme will perform better graphically.
The above snippet is a Valve employee’s reply to one of the posts that highlighted a slide in AMD’s presentation that mentioned Valve among other manufacturers. The original post has since then been deleted.
The Z2 Go is an odd one. It has 4 cores and 8 threads, a maximum boost frequency of 4.3 GHz, and a maximum TDP of 15-30W with 12 graphics cores. The halved cores and threads and a lower max clock speed mean it sits below the vanilla Z2. However, thanks to 12 GPU cores, it should still perform better than the processor in first-gen Steam Deck and even last year’s Z1.
With that out of the way, we’re still not sure which consoles the Z2 series will debut on first. Valve has already denied rumors of a Steam Deck with Z2 when AMD said in a briefing that Valve, Lenovo, and ASUS will be some of their first partners to debut the chip.
Neither Lenovo nor ASUS have announced their Z2-powered devices yet, so it’ll be interesting to see who takes up AMD first. As for Acer, the firm has already launched a refreshed Blaze 8 and 11 but with more screen size options, so we’re assuming they’re done for the first half of 2025.
What are your thoughts on the AMD Z2 series? Let us know in the comments below.
