AMD explains distinctions between Ryzen Z1 Gaming Series and 7040U APUs.

Last month, the ASUS ROG Ally handheld games console was released, featuring "custom" AMD hardware. The collaboration between the two companies resulted in two special SoCs - the Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme. However, some silicon enthusiasts noticed that the Z1 series had similar specifications to AMD's 7040U family of mobile/ultra-portable chipsets, particularly the Ryzen 7 7840U. Andrew E. Freedman at Tom's Hardware reached out to AMD for clarification, and the company acknowledged the similarities but stated that the Z1 APUs had been tweaked by engineers for handheld gaming.

Matthew Hurwitz, a client PR manager at AMD, explained that the Ryzen Z1 series was purpose-built for handheld gaming, requiring validation of new power ranges and voltage curves optimized for this use case. While the technology building blocks were similar to the 7040 and Z1 series, the resulting models had distinct characteristics customized for their use cases. Additionally, the AMD Ryzen AI engine was not available on AMD Ryzen Z1 series processors, and the XDNA AI engine was only disabled on the two Z1 APUs, not removed at the hardware level. Overall, while there were small differences, AMD and ASUS likely saved money on development costs by creating and adopting the "slightly adjusted" Z1 SoC series.