AMD is preparing a new Zen 5-based mobile CPU lineup to target the mainstream budget. ComputerBase reports that AMD's Krackan/Krackan Point mobile APUs will arrive in early 2025 in laptops, starting at $799.
Until now, AMD's only Zen 5 mobile CPU — under the Ryzen AI 300 series (Strix Point) umbrella, has targeted high-end laptop solutions. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, HX 370, and Ryzen AI 9 365 are all high-performance-focused parts that have left the budget and mainstream markets without a Zen 5 solution or a Copilot+ CPU solution from AMD.
ComputerBase confirmed in a conversation at IFA 2024 with AMD's Jack Huynh that Krackan is real and will arrive in early 2025. Official details or specs of the new Zen 5 chips were not disclosed, but these chips will inevitably fill the void Strix Point has left out, being cheaper solutions with lower specs.
Numerous rumors and leaks have been published regarding Krackan Point. The new CPU design is a cut-down version of Strix Point and Strix Halo, with just eight CPU cores. For comparison, the outgoing flagship Strix Point chip (the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375) features 12 cores: eight Zen 5c cores, four Zen 5 cores, and an RDNA 3.5 iGPU with 16 CUs. On the other hand, Krackan Point will seemingly come with four Zen 5 cores and four Zen 5c cores and come with up to eight RDNA 3.5 CUs.
AI performance is somewhat vague, but Krackan Point will, at the very minimum, have an XDNA-based NPU that meets Microsoft's 40 TOPS criteria to be considered a Copilot+ capable chip. Some rumors claim that Krackan Point could feature a new NPU called XDNA2, capable of an AI performance between 45 to 50 TOPS. Krackan Point will reportedly also support LPDDRX-8000 memory.
AMD will face some very heated competition once Krackan Point arrives next year. These new processors will have to contend with Qualcomm's highly power-efficient Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips and Intel's brand new TSMC-powered Lunar Lake mobile CPUs, which promise to provide substantial gains in power efficiency over Intel's outgoing mobile CPUs based on Meteor Lake.
