The 2 issues AMD subtly revealed at CES that truly excite me

As we predicted, the world’s largest client electronics present was a little bit of a bust for avid gamers this yr! CES 2026 introduced us a number of neat gamepads, however barely any handhelds and no new desktop GPUs — not from Nvidia, not from Intel, and never from AMD.

However when you dig deep, AMD stated two issues at this yr’s present which are worthy of consideration. Did you catch that the corporate’s about to make socketed cell chips once more? Or that its reply to Intel is to decrease the value of its monster Strix Halo silicon?

Publicly, AMD barely acknowledged customers on the Shopper Electronics Present. “AMD failed us,” decried Players Nexus, stating that the corporate’s keynote was virtually solely fixated on AI. Outdoors the keynote, the corporate’s few consumer-friendly bulletins — together with the Ryzen 7 9850X3D for gaming desktops and Ryzen AI 400 for laptops — are all retreads of present parts.

AMD additionally didn’t announce a brand new chip for handheld gaming PCs, no successor to the Z2 and Z2 Excessive it launched a yr in the past, whilst Intel publicly introduced plans for an “total handheld gaming platform” and Qualcomm teased its personal handhelds for a doable March reveal.

Intel didn’t miss an opportunity to jab: “They’re promoting historic silicon, whereas we’re promoting up-to-date processors particularly designed for this market,” Intel consumer product administration director Nish Neelalojanan instructed PCWorld.

But AMD claims these so-called “historic” processors are greater than a match for Intel’s new Panther Lake silicon. AMD consumer chip boss Rahul Tikoo instructed Tom’s {Hardware} that AMD’s Strix Halo / Ryzen AI Max chip “will kill” Panther Lake. He stated, “It’s not even a good combat at that time, as a result of it’s discrete-level graphics.”

Tikoo additionally instructed Tom’s {Hardware} that Intel’s gaming-grade Panther Lake chips is likely to be pricier than you count on: “And, oh, by the best way, that 12 Xe [Panther Lake]… Wait till you see the value level on that. It’s gonna be, you recognize. Sufficient stated.”

Value has been the issue with AMD’s Strix Halo too — each highly effective Ryzen handheld, mini desktop, and monster pill we’ve seen has price round $2,000, even earlier than the RAM crunch. However that brings me to the primary thrilling factor for avid gamers AMD quietly revealed at CES: The price of its highly effective Strix Halo programs is nearly actually about to return down.

AMD launched two new cut-down variations of Strix Halo final week with their full-fat graphics intact; Tikoo instructed us that gaming firms particularly had been asking for components like the brand new Ryzen AI Max Plus 388 and 392.

And once I caught up with AMD’s Jason Banta, who’s answerable for interfacing with these firms, he stated AMD genuinely expects the 2 new chips will result in decrease Strix Halo system costs, beneath $2,000 even once you consider the runaway worth of RAM. (I requested the query a number of other ways to make sure of his reply.)

Banta wouldn’t inform me if the corporate has any different plans to defend its tiny handheld empire (the Steam Deck, Xbox Ally, Legion Go, and extra all use AMD chips, as do the PlayStation and Xbox) when Intel and Qualcomm come knocking later this yr. “We consider imitation is a superb type of flattery,” is all he’d actually say. “Once we’re creating the section, innovating the section, we count on others to enter.”

Banta isn’t afraid of Intel and Qualcomm handheld chips taking his clients away. “What they’ve seen is we’ve confirmed we will execute, and never simply execute: Once we see a quirk with a sport, we observe up, we replace, we optimize. […] That has a really huge affect on these design choices for each considered one of these OEMs,” he stated. Banta stated AMD’s handheld enterprise continues to be rising, too, and the corporate nonetheless plans to maintain investing.

Most PC makers don’t appear able to climb aboard Intel’s handheld bandwagon simply but. When you take an in depth take a look at Intel’s keynote slide, the one main distributors listed are Acer and MSI, and the one boutique handheld makers are GPD and OneXPlayer, each nonetheless huge on AMD. The remainder of Intel’s companions (Compal, Foxconn, Inventec, Pegatron, Quanta, and Wistron) aren’t manufacturers, however slightly the ODM contract manufacturing firms that’ll be preventing for his or her enterprise.

Whereas I used to be chatting with AMD’s Jason Banta on the present, he introduced my consideration to at least one extra piece of stories that was simple to overlook. The second doubtlessly thrilling factor for avid gamers is that AMD is making socketed cell processors once more — Ryzen AI 400 laptop computer chips that aren’t soldered down, however match right into a socket like a desktop CPU, so you’ll be able to exchange or doubtlessly even improve them sooner or later.

He stated they’ll start to seem in desktops within the early a part of this yr, particularly concentrating on Q2. Banta thinks socketed cell chips are going to unlock gaming and productiveness designs of all sizes and styles: “That socketed Ryzen AI 400, we’re anticipating to see that all over the place from 1-liter designs all the best way to 30-liter designs,” he says. (Cell processors is usually a good match for beefy desktop GPUs, since most video games don’t require all that a lot CPU energy at excessive decision.)

These socketed chips aren’t only for avid gamers, thoughts; it seems like they have been truly focused at AI PCs to start out. “What we’re seeing is of us that need the pliability of the socketed design, however they wish to check out Copilot Plus, they wish to check out some native fashions that may truly leverage the NPU and run instantly on that,” he stated.

Once I requested if the socket means we must always count on upgradable laptops, Banta gently throws some chilly water on that concept. “Usually, what we discover is individuals need the thinnest system they will get, even when they’re fanatic customers,” and that each the socket itself and a socketed CPU’s built-in warmth spreader add undesirable thickness to a laptop computer.

However he appears to assume it’ll occur in mini PCs: “What we’re seeing is BGA, LGA, everybody’s experimenting in quite a lot of other ways inside these 1-liter, 2-liter designs, issues you’ll be able to match in your desk.”

Whereas I didn’t spot a mini PC with a socketed CPU on the present, I ran into one with tiny modular desktop graphics playing cards — this Steam Machine competitor from Minisforum — and it makes me excited for a doable future the place we will improve the CPU, too. Why ought to solely bigger PCs be absolutely upgradable? The new Steam Machine isn’t, and the Framework Desktop requires you to improve an entire mainboard at a time, however it doesn’t must be that manner.

For that to occur, although, AMD would additionally must promote its socketed cell processors at retail the best way it sells its desktop ones, and AMD’s not but keen to decide to that at present.

“What can I say… we’ve energetic partnerships with OEMs on Ryzen AI 400 socketed designs. DIY will not be one thing we’re speaking details about at the moment, so extra to return later,” Banta stated.