this AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme Edition It’s official. AMD has taken the wraps off its highly-anticipated handheld gaming CPU, which will likely power future versions of the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go, and looks set to deliver huge improvements in gaming performance and battery life. However, despite the Steam Deck appearing in a slide announcing the new chip, Valve developers said the Z2 will not be included in a future Steam Deck.

The new CPU is the follow-up to the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme, which was already used to power the Asus ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go, and it looks like the future of handheld devices is now about to get even more powerful. While it doesn’t look like the new chip will be used in Steam Deck 2, there’s nothing stopping other companies from using the Z2 to make SteamOS handheld devices.

During AMD’s presentation announcing the new CPUs, there was a strange slide in which the Steam Deck appeared alongside the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go (pictured below), leading us to initially assume there might be a Z2 Extreme-based Steam Deck work. However, Valve Steam Deck developer Pierre-Loup Griffais has refuted this rumor, saying “there will be no Z2 Steam Deck” in a post on Bluesky (above), as noted by GamingOnLinux.

Still, it’s an extremely capable handheld chip. The most obvious upgrade to this new processor is the shift in its GPU from the 12 compute units on the Z1 Extreme to a 16 compute unit design. The 33% improvement in processing components will bring a very direct and linear improvement to game performance, providing gamers with faster frame rates or stable frame rates at higher resolutions.

Aside from this change, the raw performance improvement over the Z1 Extreme isn’t that noticeable, as the Z2 Extreme CPU specs look to be roughly the same as the Z1 Extreme, with the new chip featuring an eight-core CPU that can handle 16 threads at a time .

Ryzen Z2 will also be available in two other configurations: Z2 and Z2 Go, both of which drop down to a 12 CU GPU, with the Go also dropping down to only a quad-core CPU. The Ryzen Z2 Go actually sounds like a very interesting option, because while the quad-core CPU is already pushing the limits required for many AAA modern games, it’s still more than enough for most older games, and you can still Get 12-core GPU CU. If AMD and its partners can bring the process to market at a good price, it could become an attractive budget handheld option.

Beyond these basic specs, AMD didn’t provide many details about other changes on the new CPUs, but claimed the new chips will deliver “more performance and features than previous generations, as well as hours of battery life.”

As for when you’ll be able to get your hands on the first AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme devices, AMD says they will appear in the first quarter of 2025, so it could be anytime between now and April. Hopefully this will come sooner rather than later.

Unveiled at the CES 2025 press conference, the Z2 Extreme joins a slew of other AMD announcements at the world’s largest tech trade show, including the new Ryzen 9 9950X3D desktop gaming CPU, the highly anticipated Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card and AMD Ryzen AI Max gaming laptop CPU and incredible 40 CU GPU.

You can keep up with all the latest happenings at CES by checking out our CES News Center.