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It's been 6 months since AMD announced the octa-core Ryzen 7 4800U. Why is it MIA?

It's been 6 months since AMD announced the octa-core Ryzen 7 4800U. So, why is it MIA? (Image source: Lenovo)
It's been 6 months since AMD announced the octa-core Ryzen 7 4800U. So, why is it MIA? (Image source: Lenovo)
It was supposed to lead the pack of Zen 2 mobile processors and make 8-core/16-thread U-series Ultrabooks a reality, but it is still nowhere to be found as of Summer 2020. Is AMD saving its best for last?
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It feels almost like a myth at this point. When AMD detailed its Zen 2 plans earlier this year, the Ryzen 7 4800U was the cornerstone of the new ULV Zen 2 processor stack. The chipmaker dedicated more time and presentations boasting about the Ryzen 7 4800U than any other Zen 2 U-series CPU including the Ryzen 7 4700U, Ryzen 5 4600U, Ryzen 5 4500U, or Ryzen 3 4300U. This is despite the fact that each one of these processors are already available in market except for the Ryzen 7 4800U. It all feels like hot air when a company brags about the performance of its latest flagship processor against the competition when said processor is more or less non-existent to customers.

Even stranger is the fact that the first laptop announced to be shipping with the Ryzen 7 4800U, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (or IdeaPad Slim 7 depending on region), has already begun shipping without the Ryzen 7 4800U. Its highest configurable option at the moment is "only" the 8-core/8-thread Ryzen 7 4700U even though it was originally unveiled alongside the Ryzen 7 4800U.

Lenovo most certainly aren't going to hold back their product launch cycles because of a single processor. Recent leaks have suggested that the manufacturer is preparing to announce the Yoga Slim 7 Pro or Yoga Slim 9 in the near future equipped with Intel Tiger Lake CPUs. These newer options will invariably take some thunder away from the "older" Yoga Slim 7 and its Ryzen 7 4800U.

However, we can see the strategy working from a glass half full perspective. The existing Ryzen 3 4300U to Ryzen 7 4700U lineup is already killing it in the marketplace when compared to Intel's best Ice Lake or Comet Lake-U alternatives. When a Ryzen 5 can outperform a Core i7 in price, power consumption, and performance, then the ball is in Intel's court for them to make the next move. AMD may be seeing no real rush to push the Ryzen 7 4800U to market just yet as a result — at least until Tiger Lake becomes widely available.

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Opinion by Allen Ngo
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2020 07 > It's been 6 months since AMD announced the octa-core Ryzen 7 4800U. Why is it MIA?
Allen Ngo, 2020-07-20 (Update: 2020-07-20)