AMD Ryzen Mobility 7nm Zen 2 CPUs Rumored For Late 2019 Launch

Earlier this month, AMD delivered its second-generation Ryzen 3000 mobile processors. Unlike the Ryzen 3000 desktop processors, which are built on 7nm Zen 2 architecture, the mobile versions are somewhat confusingly built on the current 12nm Zen+ architecture with integrated Radeon Vega graphics.

However, what everyone wants to know is when can we expect to see the first round of Zen 2-based Ryzen mobile processors hit the market? According to a fresh report, it could be as early as Q4 2019 or as late as the first quarter of 2020. We should expect some pretty nice performance gains with Zen 2 mobile chips versus their Zen+ predecessors, with most reports pegging the instructions per clock (IPC) lift at around 13 percent. We should also see some performance-per-watt improvements as well, which will be greatly appreciated for thin and light notebooks.

We should mention that if the late 2019 to early 2020 timeframe holds true, AMD will be going toe-to-toe with Intel's first crop of mass-production Ice Lake platform. Ice Lake includes 10nm Sunny Cove processor architecture, native Thunderbolt 3 support, Wi-Fi 6, Intel Gen 11 graphics, and a dedicated machine learning engine. 

According to this same report, however, it's reported that there are a few of AMD's key hardware partners that won't be onboard for these upcoming 7nm mobile processors, including big original design manufacturers like Tongfang and Clevo. In addition, MSI is also reportedly taking a pass on the first 7nm mobile chips.

According to WCCFTech, the hesitation from these partners has to do with the ability -- or rather, inability-- to receive support and marketing assistance from AMD. "AMD does not have the financial ability to provide this level of support right now to everyone (they *are* providing this to some extent to Acer, ASUS and HP) and is not able to provide the relevant warranties," writes WCCFTech. "Which is why Clevo, Tongfang and MSI feel they do not want to risk picking up AMD 7nm right now."

It's possible that there's a grain of truth to the above statement regarding support, but we'll also have toss in a spoonful of salt as well given that we're still months away from an official launch and plans could definitely change.