AMD Krackan Point APUs Target Affordable Platforms & Launch In 2025
AMD Krackan Point APUs Target Affordable Platforms & Launch In 2025

AMD will release Krackan Point APUs to provide more affordable devices to the masses but needs to tackle the chip supply by 2025.
At IFA 2024, we saw many key players announcing their upcoming products. From Intel's Lunar Lake-based laptops and handhelds to AMD Ryzen AI 300-equipped laptops, there were plenty of laptops and other such devices that focused on the AI and Copilot+ experience. One lineup, namely the Krackan Point, which was rumored to launch at CES 2025 has now been confirmed by AMD itself for early 2025 launch.
This was confirmed by Senior VP and General Manager of AMD Computing and Graphics, Jack Huynh, who also confirmed recently that AMD is preparing the custom Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip for early 2025 release. As reported by Computerbase, Jack said that AMD acknowledges the need for cheaper chips as the AMD Strix Point is a premium offering. Strix laptops are generally expensive and the masses cannot afford them.
This is why AMD has planned to release the more affordable AMD Krackan Point at the beginning of 2025 so that more OEMs can adopt and utilize their chips. At the moment, the Strix Point APUs haven't been used even in a single gaming handheld despite many manufacturers entering the market. This is definitely due to the price point of these APUs but the most important thing is AMD's chip supply.
Apart from not having budget chips like the Krackan Point right now, AMD has not been able to solve its chip supply problem which forces some of its partners to go with alternatives. While AMD does power the Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, and various other handhelds, no one among these companies has adopted the Strix Point for the next-gen consoles. Instead, it's speculated that these companies will go after the Z2 Extreme we talked about earlier.
That said, AMD Krackan Point APUs will solve this problem as they offer an 8-core configuration with a 4x Zen 5 and 4x Zen 5c combination, featuring up to 50 TOPS of NPU performance.
This will enable the AMD Krackan Point APU-based devices to get Copilot+ certification but most importantly, the Krackan Point will bring faster GPU based on RDNA 3.5 graphics compared to the previous generations. It won't be as good as the Strix Point due to bringing 8 Compute Units compared to 16 on the latter but it will be surely enough to replace the existing AMD chip on the Steam Deck.
News Source: Computerbase
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