MSI Claw A2HM: New 7-inch gaming handheld spotted amid rumours of AMD Ryzen Z2 release
Rumours about MSI releasing an AMD Ryzen-powered gaming handheld have been circulating for months despite the company's apparent fondness for Intel processors. To recap, an X account known for receiving AMD and MSI-related information ahead of schedule tweeted in January that MSI was preparing a Ryzen Z2 option. More recently, there were suggestions that this unnamed Claw variant would actually arrive with a Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme.
Officially, MSI has not commented on the prospect of pivoting to AMD APUs for its gaming handheld division. Instead, it has decided to refresh the existing Claw 8 AI+ with a Polar Tempest Edition. Leaker @94G8LA has now discovered references to an unreleased Claw 'A2HM' variant found across MSI's spare parts websites.
Surprisingly, the A2HM is another refresh of the Claw 7 (curr. $519 on Amazon) rather than the more popular Claw 8. While it is evident that the A2HM has a 7-inch display, it remains to be seen what processor MSI has chosen. As VideoCardz notes, the lack of any AI+ branding suggests that the processor has a low-powered NPU or is missing one altogether.
MSI's naming scheme does not offer any clarity, either. For instance, the company uses the 'A2HM' model number to denote AMD Ryzen 200 and Intel Arrow Lake-H processors inside the Venture A17 and Summit 16, respectively. Incidentally, MSI submitted the Claw A2HM with the Japan Audio Society two months ago to receive Hi-Res Audio certification. Thus, we doubt that the Claw A2HM has been added to MSI's spare parts catalogue in error. Unfortunately, there is no indication of when MSI will introduce another Claw gaming handheld yet, nor whether it will receive a global launch.
Source(s)
MSI (1) (2) via @94G8LA, Japan Audio Society via VideoCardz
