Intel, Not AMD, Could Be the Secret to Kickass Next-Gen Handheld PCs

Gizmodo

12 hours ago

Intel is an empire past its prime and is beset on all sides. Just as Paul 'Muad'Dib' Atreides of Dune monologued on the many futures he perceived, there is 'a narrow way through' for the beleaguered chipmaker. The way forward could be with a newfound gaming focus on its next-gen chips. Its desktop CPUs may be getting a gamer-centric upgrade, but the real surprise may be how it could win out in a market it has yet to truly compete in: handheld gaming.
Handheld gaming PCs need Intel to shake things up. It's a thought I couldn't shake loose as soon as I saw leaked benchmark figures for the upcoming MSI Claw A8. The handheld is a sequel to the less-than-stellar MSI Claw 7 and the chunky, though incredibly powerful, MSI Claw 8 AI+. Compared to the last two Intel-based handhelds, the A8 is running on the upcoming AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme. That chip is an APU, aka an accelerated processing unit, which is a CPU that contains graphics processing capabilities. AMD first announced its flagship chip for handhelds in January this year. We have yet to get our hands on any device showcasing the chip's capabilities in the many months since then.
AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme@17W (MSI Claw A8)vsIntel Core Ultra 7 258V@17W (MSI Claw 8 AI+)https://t.co/dN3oqGzzCX pic.twitter.com/JNmPJHCkjs
— HXL (@9550pro) August 3, 2025
Leaked benchmarks stemming from Chinese-language social media may explain why we haven't seen too much about AMD's latest chip. The Claw 8 AI+ used an Intel Core Ultra 258V processor made for lightweight PCs, which meant it supported Intel's ARC 140V graphics capabilities. These benchmarks show the Intel and AMD chips are nearly on par with each other in games like Far Cry 6 and Hitman 3. The Ryzen Z2 Extreme gets around five more frames per second in titles like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Monster Hunter Wilds. Sure, AMD's chip seems better than Intel's at this wattage, but it's not that much better considering the 258V wasn't explicitly built with this form factor in mind.
More leaked benchmarks from the MSI Claw A8 don't give AMD much more of a soapbox to tout its capabilities. YouTuber ETA Prime showcased how the Ryzen Z2 Extreme compares to the last-gen Z1 Extreme from close to two years ago. The Z2 is running on the chipmaker's latest Zen 5 chip microarchitecture and ostensibly has more cores on the updated RDNA 3.5 GPU cores to output better graphics capabilities. While it does much better in synthetic benchmarks than the previous gen, in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Z2 Extreme only showed an average of four or five frames per second higher than the Z1 Extreme. If you already have a handheld with the older flagship, it will be hard to justify dropping even more money on an updated device. Rumors suggest the high-end handhelds of today could be very costly.
AMD's latest may be disappointing to some, but Intel may actually have a chance of beating its major competitor at its own game. For one, Intel's general manager of client AI and technical marketing—Robert Hallock—previously confirmed with Laptop Mag (RIP) that Intel plans to make handheld-centric chips. Those Intel chips mentioned before, which are part of the Lunar Lake family of CPUs, could become even more graphically capable with the next generation (codenamed Panther Lake). Leaks of a shipping manifest posted last week by leaker X86deadandback (via PCGamer) indicate the next generation of Intel's mobile chips will have 50% more of its graphics cores. The latest rumors suggest Intel will also upgrade its graphics cores from Xe2 to Xe3.
We don't know what that means for practicality's sake. More cores with better rendering capabilities don't speak to the chip's architecture. If it can combine better graphics capabilities with better AI upscaling capabilities than the current XeSS 2, Intel's next mobile chips could be a far larger boon for handhelds than AMD. The only question remaining is whether we'll see a handheld with an 'Intel Inside' sticker beaming like a happy child on the side of the device. We know the Lenovo Legion Go 2, alongside the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, will house the Z2 Extreme. The other lingering issue is that Valve's SteamOS, which is—for the time being—a better option for handhelds than Windows, only supports AMD's Ryzen Z series of APUs, not Intel. There are many mountains to climb before 'Team Blue' can make a statement, and it better make one soon before AMD can catch up.