Rumor | 16-core AMD Ryzen 7000 mobile Zen 4 Raphael-H with 65 W TDP to launch alongside Phoenix-H to counter Intel Alder Lake-S Muscle and Raptor Lake mobile offerings

We have been hearing about AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 Raphael lineup for quite some time now. So far, we've been seeing roadmaps that indicate Raphael on the desktop side will be complemented by Phoenix on mobile. Now, it looks like AMD may offer a mobile version for Raphael as well targeted at enthusiast gaming and content creator laptops.

This information (do take it with a pinch of salt) comes via leaker @NNNiceMing on Twitter, who claims there will be a 16-core Zen 4 offering for Raphael. @greymon55 further corroborates this by claiming that this is actually Raphael-H and not Phoenix-H. Assuming this information is true, it is not entirely clear as to why AMD would split Zen 4 mobile into distinct H-series lineups that are basically the same architecture. However, a little speculation hints that a major reason for this change could actually be due to Intel. 

With Ryzen 7000 Raphael, AMD would be using RDNA2 integrated GPUs for perhaps the first time on desktop alongside 5 nm Zen 4 cores. With Navi 2x processing available directly on-die and the purported efficiency benefits of transitioning to 5 nm, it is possible that AMD is gunning for even more powerful mobile chips than the usual U, HS, and H-series offerings. 

We have seen some semblance of that with Cezanne. AMD offers unlocked Cezanne Zen 3 mobile variants such as the Ryzen 9 5900HX and the Ryzen 9 5980HX. While the Ryzen 9 5900HX showed up in quite a few laptops, the Ryzen 9 5980HX is yet to be seen in the wild. The only device we've heard of so far featuring the Ryzen 9 5980HX is the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. Therefore, while niche, there does exist a market for extreme performance mobile parts, and AMD could be looking to capitalize on it with upcoming processor families.

That segment would not be AMD's alone for the taking, though. We have reported previously that Intel 12th gen Alder Lake Mobile will be available in several TDP variants including an Alder Lake-S variant, a.k.a "Muscle", with a BGA1964 socket that would be configured in the 45-55 W TDP range. The top-end Core i9 variant of Alder Lake-S BGA is slated to offer eight Golden Cove and eight Gracemont cores along with a 32-EU Xe graphics component.

However, it's not Alder Lake that would be AMD's nemesis by the time Raphael-H and Phoenix-H hit market supposedly in early 2023. Intel is prepping Raptor Lake on the desktop using the Intel 4 (7 nm) process with up to 24 cores and 32 threads. A high-end Raptor Lake mobile part could very well sport equal or more cores than Alder Lake-S, and AMD wouldn't want to let Intel grab all the limelight.

We expect Ryzen 7000 Phoenix-H to be rated up to 45 W with the unlocked variants up to 65 W possibly getting consolidated under the Ryzen 7000 Raphael-H family. Both platforms will support DDR5 memory. Meanwhile, AMD is expected to offer Rembrandt with 6 nm Zen 3+ cores and RDNA 2 graphics. An interim Van Gogh series with 7 nm Zen 2 cores is also in the offing, which is being thought of as a test bed of sorts to see how well the RDNA 2 integrated graphics plays out. 

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