Zen 4 release date becomes shrouded in confusion sparking conflicting Ryzen 7000 arrival speculation

With Intel’s Alder Lake almost universally impressing, many Team Red fans have been on tenterhooks waiting for AMD to release its Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 series of desktop chips, which have the family codename “Raphael”. Last month, tipster Greymon55, who seems to actually have some insider sources in the semiconductor industry, suggested that the 5 nm process-based Ryzen 7000 parts could arrive sooner than expected.

AMD has already teased Zen 4, with a Ryzen 7000 launch possibly taking placing in the second half of 2022. But a recent social media post from the aforementioned leaker indicated that Q4 was not going to be release window timeframe, and that Raphael would even appear before September. Unfortunately, this potential Zen 4 release of July/August seems less likely now as the same source claims that “there's no sign that Zen 4 is going into mass production.”

Unsurprisingly, the latest comments have sparked considerable speculation about when Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 might actually surface. While some diehard fans are sticking with an early release for Raphael to take place in Q3, others believe early Q4 or even early 2023 could be the revised launch windows. With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting supplies, TSMC allegedly having issues with its 3 nm yield, and AMD producing a Zen 3 refresh, it appears that there are plenty of factors at play that make an early Zen 4 release unlikely.

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