Embark on a Gaming Odyssey: AMD’s Upcoming Chips Could Revolutionize Handheld Gaming

The allure of handheld gaming has always been about the potential of playing console-quality titles on the go. From the GameBoy Colour to the PS Vita, handheld gaming has always stuck with me throughout my life. However, each of these systems had their shortcomings in regards to power. Currently, if you want a handheld system that allows for a truly uncompromised graphical experience, your best choice is to forgo playing locally altogether and head over to the cloud.

Cloud gaming with Logitech G Cloud

Pair a Logitech G Cloud with a top-tier Nvidia GeForce NOW subscription and you’ll be able to play games like Alan Wake II and Cyberpunk 2077 at their highest settings, with ray-tracing, running at a buttery-smooth 60fps, from the comfort of your bed. Granted you’ll need a stable and fast internet connection, and being near one of Nvidia’s servers helps, and even then it still doesn’t mean you won’t get the occasional stutter and latency issues. Subscription services also fall prey to inconsistent libraries, with services adding and dropping games on a whim; even if you own a certain game on Steam it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to play them via a cloud service.

Steam Deck: A Promising but Imperfect Solution

Speaking of Steam, it’s here where you might be considering Valve’s incredibly popular handheld: the Steam Deck. Though the machine is impressive, it still isn’t perfect. Powered by an AMD Zen 2 APU, the device is powerful enough to run some older triple-A games, albeit on lower settings, which once again goes back to my older point about handhelds continually being bottlenecked due to their hardware limitations.

However, recent leaks suggest that AMD’s upcoming chips could potentially bring massive power upgrades. These chips, if used by companies like Valve for a Steam Deck 2 or Asus for their next ROG Ally series, could see handhelds entering an entirely new echelon regarding performance. This means we could, for the first time, have handhelds on par with current generation consoles; playing games locally without any compromises or the need to rely on the cloud.

AMD’s Upcoming Strix Point Chips

Codenamed “Strix Point,” these mobile APUs will be AMD’s first Zen 5 products, upgrading the current CPU architecture as well the graphics to RDNA 3.5 from the current RDNA 3. However, it’s the top-of-the-line variant within the Strix Point series that has tech analysts very excited. Codenamed “Halo,” this chip is rumoured to compete with the likes of Apple’s M4 chip. Combining 16 Zen 5 CPU cores with a 40 Compute Unit RDNA 3.5 integrated graphics chip, this APU could potentially surpass even the PlayStation 5 in performance, according to analysts.

“Gamers have been pining for Valve to make a new Steam Deck; though the company did release a refresh last year with an OLED model, it still came equipped with the same internals.”

If Valve were waiting for mobile chip technology to make strides in performance before committing to an upgrade, then that patience may prove worth it if these leaked specs are to be believed. It wouldn’t surprise me if Valve, given the best-selling model of the Steam Deck is the most expensive one, released a $1000 variant of a Steam Deck 2 that came fitted with AMD’s Strix Point Halo chip; finally making my dreams of an uncompromised handheld gaming experience a reality.

The Future of Handheld Gaming

The future of handheld gaming looks brighter than ever, and with AMD’s upcoming chips, we might finally get the uncompromised gaming experience we’ve been waiting for. Will Valve take the leap and release a Steam Deck 2 that truly revolutionizes handheld gaming? Only time will tell.