AMD’s Next-Gen Z2 Extreme Chip Set To Super-Charge Future Gaming Handhelds
Despite flying a bit under the radar, one of the bigger announcements at IFA was that of the AMD Z2 Extreme processor. The Z2 Extreme is the successor to the current Z1 Extreme, which powers some of the current flagship gaming handheld devices, such as the Lenovo Legion GO and the ROG Ally X.
Few details are available at this point, but it is suggested that the Z2 Extreme will be more efficient and ultimately offer better battery life and performance. Battery life has been one of the biggest sticking points with the current crop of Windows-based gaming handhelds. Of course, higher performance is also on tap, suggesting the Z2 Extreme will be a worthy upgrade.
Last month AMD released its Fluid Motion Frames 2 which is set to shift the performance and battery life dynamic. AMD's FMF2 is also able to offer a rather large boost in FPS on the current-gen handhelds, while reducing the load placed on the host processor. While FMF2 still has a few kinks to work out, such as disabling itself when on-screen action gets hot and heavy, it is a good look into what the future may hold. With updates and a more refined FMF2 in addition to the new Z2 Extreme chip potentially offering higher efficiency and performance, the possibility exists for some significant improvements to the overall user experience.
According to Digital Trends, AMD didn't mention any specifics on the performance, but there were some hints dropped. It seems that AMD's Jack Huynh mentioned being able to play Black Myth: Wukong for closer to 3 hours on a handheld instead of the 45 minutes we are currently seeing. If this is true, this will be a massive leap in battery life and will make the next generation of handhelds much more attractive to mobile gamers.
The Acer Nitro 7 is likely be one of the first handhelds with the new Z2 Extreme chip and AMD has said they are working with several other partners as well. This could mean that sometime in 2025, we may see updated models of the Lenovo Legion Go and ASUS ROG ALLY X, which are currently two of the most popular models using the Z1 Extreme chip.
