AMD’s Z2 arrives, heralding the next generation of PC gaming handhelds

CES 2025 hasn’t even kicked off yet, but thanks to AMD, we’re already getting a glimpse of what’s to come: the next generation of PC gaming handhelds. AMD announced that its hotly anticipated Ryzen Z2 processor is ready to rock after first revealing the chip at Computex last summer.

AMD’s initial Z1 chip powered most of the first wave of gaming handhelds, while Valve’s Steam Deck uses a close custom-made sibling. AMD says the Z2 can provide “console-class” graphics that last for hours and hours, though it didn’t disclose any benchmarks or deeper performance context. (To be fair, that’s difficult since the design limitations of handhelds can drastically affect performance.)

The Z2 isn’t just a singular chip, but instead a lineup of offerings that all use Radeon RDNA graphics and Ryzen CPU cores — though the details vary wildly. There’s the standard Z2 with RDNA 3 graphics cores, but also a Ryzen Z2 Go with fewer CPU cores, older RDNA 2 graphics, and (much) lower clock speeds. Meanwhile, the high-end Ryzen Z2 Extreme offers 33 percent more Radeon graphics cores, and they’re the most potent as well, utilizing RDNA 3.5 tech.

Of note, last generation’s Z1 was limited to eight Radeon CUs, but this generation’s base Ryzen Z2 chips match the Z1 Extreme’s beefier 12 Radeon CUs. Gaming handheld makers will be able to pick which chip they use depending on the performance and price point they’re targeting.

Speaking of, AMD’s slide included a trio of examples of the sort of handhelds these chips could appear in, and they’re heavy hitters: the Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo’s Legion Go, and — wait for it — Valve’s Steam Deck. Don’t get too excited by that seeming revelation though: “There is and will be no Z2 Steam Deck,” Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais said on Bluesky. “Guessing the slide was meant to say the series is meant for products like that, not announcing anything specific.”

The wait for Steam Deck 2 continues, but look for AMD partners to announce some of their other Ryzen Z2-powered handhelds at CES 2025, with wider availability coming later this quarter.