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In April 2023, AMD announced the Z1 and Z1 Extreme CPUs. This new class of pC chips was made specifically to be put in portable PCs, and we have seen them inside Windows 11 handheld gaming PCs such as the Asus ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go.
This week, as part of its IFA 2024 events in Berlin, Digital Trends reported that AMD confirmed it is working on its next-generation version of its handheld PC chip. Not surprisingly, the CPU has been branded as the Z2 Extreme.
The reveal of the chip and its name was made as part of a Q&A session between AMD and Microsoft. AMD says the Z2 Extreme is due to be released sometime in early 2025, or just under two years since the introduction of the Z1 and Z1 Extreme chips.
Also, not surprisingly, AMD has not offered any info on the hardware specs or performance of the Z2 Extreme chip. It did mention that it is collaborating with several different partners on the development of the CPU. That could mean we could get new and more advanced handheld gaming PCs from Asus and Lenovo next year as well.
One big question about the new chip is whether the Z2 Extreme will help extend the battery life of portable gaming PCs. That is perhaps the biggest hurdle for these kinds of devices.
During IFA this week, Acer jumped into the handheld gaming PC ring with the announcement of the Acer Nitro Blaze 7. While it will use an AMD CPU, it will not be the Z1 or Z1 Extreme, but rather a standard AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor that is usually put in notebooks. Acer has yet to announce a release date or a price tag for the Nitro Blaze 7 PC