Over the last few years, it’s become clear that AMD Ryzen chips are at the heart of most gaming handhelds sold.
With Projections of 8 Million Handheld Units to Ship by 2025, AMD Claims the Lead
Handheld gaming devices have been around for quite some time, but it wasn’t until Steam introduced the Deck in 2022 that handhelds capable of playing PC games really took off. Fast forward three years, and we’ve seen a surge of devices from big names like ASUS, MSI, and ZOTAC.
A common theme among these handhelds is their reliance on AMD CPUs, aside from exceptions like MSI’s Claw 7/8 AI+. From the outset, Valve’s choice to integrate a custom AMD Zen 2 CPU in their device inspired other manufacturers to opt for AMD’s faster chips. This trend was hardly surprising given that Intel’s Meteor Lake wasn’t available until late 2023, by which time both Lenovo and ASUS had already launched their Legion GO and ROG Ally models.
Even with the release of Meteor Lake, most companies continued to favor AMD Zen 4 chips. Since then, we’ve seen more vendors embracing Zen 5 processors. Recent data from IDC on handheld shipments between 2022 and early 2025 reveals that AMD-powered devices dominate the market. This has given AMD a reason to celebrate, a sentiment echoed by their Senior Director of Consumer Marketing, Saša Marinković, in a Twitter post.
From Zero to Hero, in just four years. Vast majority of these handhelds are powered by @AMD pic.twitter.com/0Cjg90pdlN
— Saša Marinković (@SasaMarinkovic) February 25, 2025
Frank Azor from AMD’s Consumer and Gaming Marketing expressed his amazement, "This didn’t exist three years ago; we went from nothing, zero, to incremental category creation in the millions of units."
IDC’s research reveals that around 6 million Windows and SteamOS-based handhelds were shipped over the past three years (2023-2024). Looking ahead to 2025, the forecast is for about 2 million more units, majority of which will continue to feature AMD processors. The report primarily covers the most popular models like the Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and MSI Claw 7.
Remarkably, more than half of those 6 million units could be attributed to the Steam Deck, which potentially surpassed 4 million units sold. Despite being the least powerful handheld of its peers, the Steam Deck’s streamlined SteamOS interface has contributed immensely to its success over Windows-based devices.
Intel has certainly made strides with its Lunar Lake chips, but if AMD’s Strix Halo makes an entrance into the handheld market, Intel will have a tough battle ahead. Unless Intel’s Panther Lake is powerful enough to challenge Strix Halo’s integrated graphics prowess, AMD seems poised to retain its dominance. Plus, with AMD’s Ryzen Z2 series entering the fray, the competition in the handheld gaming market shows no signs of cooling down.
Source: The Verge, @SasaMarinikovic
