In a nutshell: AMD CPUs are currently use two types of cores, each optimized for different workloads. However, a recent Linux update describes a third category that might bring the company's next-generation architecture more in line with Intel's configuration. The news also backs prior reports about Sony's rumored upcoming handheld game console.

A recent update on the Linux kernel patch mailing list, spotted by Phoronix, includes scant details about a previously unannounced "Low Power core type" for AMD processors. The description closely resembles Intel's low-power efficiency cores, suggesting that AMD's upcoming Zen 6 CPU lineup might introduce an equivalent.

AMD's current-generation Zen 5 CPUs consist of standard Zen 5 cores for demanding tasks and lower-power Zen 5C cores for lower-priority workloads. Intel processors use a similar layout, with performance and efficiency cores, but the company's mobile Meteor Lake architecture introduced low-power E cores for background and idle tasks. This week's patch description from AMD engineer Vishal Badole describes a similar role for the company's new low-power cores.

Other details remain unclear, but the new core type could appear in Zen 6, which is expected to debut in late 2026 or early 2027. Zen 6, presumably named Ryzen 10000, could feature processors with up to 24 cores, unprecedented for mainstream Ryzen chips. The architecture will utilize a 2nm process node from TSMC, maximum clock speeds might exceed 6.5GHz, and the lineup will support existing AM5 CPU sockets.

Zen 6's low-power cores might only appear in mobile processors, but AMD's description of them also reignited rumors that Sony is developing a new handheld game console. After sources informed Bloomberg about the project in 2024, prominent tipsters KeplerL2 and Moore's Law is Dead leaked two AMD SoCs utilizing Zen 6 cores, one likely for the PlayStation 6, and the other for the handheld.

The portable SoC, codenamed Canis, is said to feature four 2.2GHz Zen 6C cores and two Zen 6 low-power cores, the latter of which would handle the operating system and all non-gaming tasks. With 12 to 20 RDNA 5 GPU compute units, LPDDR5X-7500 memory on a 128-bit bus, and a 15W TDP, it would comfortably outperform Nintendo's Switch 2 and Microsoft's Xbox Series S.

Sony's next-generation console is currently expected to launch in late 2027 or early 2028, but RAM shortages might push its price beyond what most would accept for a game console.