AMD Ryzen 5 7440U hybrid APU to launch sooner than expected: Specs, performance, and more

AMD has confirmed the existence of the smaller Phoenix 2-based Ryzen 3 7440U and Ryzen 5 7540U chips. Both of these processors will feature both Zen 4 and Zen 4c cores, and be part of a revised lineup of hybrid APUs. However, this lineup will only be limited to two SKUs. Among these, AMD has only confirmed the Ryzen 3 7440U so far, according to a report published on XDA Developers.

The two new processors launched as part of this lineup will be much different from each other. The higher-end Ryzen 5 7540U will not feature a Ryzen AI chip and will feature four GPU cores. The processor will bundle two high-performance Zen 4 cores and four Zen 4c cores for a total of six.

A ton of other details on the upcoming Phoenix 2 APUs have surfaced on the internet. We will fill you in on them in this article.

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The upcoming Ryzen 7440U Phoenix 2 APUs are pretty impressive

The lower-end Ryzen 7440U will be a quad-core chipset with two high-performance and two low-performance chiplets. The most important thing is that all of these hybrid APUs will hit the market as early as next year. Going by AMD's previous launch trends, the processors will be announced at CES and will hit the market sometime in the summer of 2024.

Below are the leaked specifications of the upcoming mobile APU processor lineups:

SOC NAME	VAN GOGH SOC	PHOENIX 2	PHOENIX 1
Process Node	7nm	4nm	4nm
Die Size	163mm2	137mm2	178mm2
Transistors	TBD	TBD
CPU Architecture	Zen 2	Zen 4 + Zen 4C	Zen 4
Cores / Threads	4 / 8	6 / 12	8 / 16
CPU Clock (Max)	3.5 GHz	4.7 GHz	5.1 GHz
GPU Architecture	RDNA 2	RDNA 3	RDNA 3
GPU Compute Units	8 CUs (512 SPs)	4 CUs (!256 SPs)	12 (768)
GPU Clocks	1.6 GHz	2500 MHz	2800 MHz
Memory	LPDDR5-5500	LPDDR5-6400 LPDDR5X-7500	DDR5-5600 LPDDR5x-7500
TDP	4-15W	15-30W	15-30W
Products	Steam Deck	Handhelds	Laptops / Handhelds
Launch	2022	2024	2024

Do note that the smaller Phoenix 2 lineup will be a lower-end alternative to the previously leaked Phoenix 1 series. A leaked image on the Chinese social media platform Bilibili showed the differences in physical size between these two chipsets. Besides this, the Phoenix 1 won't employ the hybrid Zen 4 and the Zen 4-based architecture either.

AMD is targeting both laptops and handheld consoles with these upcoming processors. It won't be surprising if these Phoenix chips power the next-gen Steam Deck or ROG Ally.

Unlike the last-gen Van Gogh SoC that powers the current-gen Valve handheld, the new and upcoming processor will draw a ton more power. While this will enable the console to deliver better framerates in games, it will come at the expense of an even shorter battery life. This won't be a welcome move for most of the userbase.