AMD is rumored to be launching its Zen 6 desktop CPUs as late as early 2027, with a chance that they may show up sometime around CES that year. AMD has officially announced its plans for the Zen 6 CPU lineup but it hasn’t set an exact release date yet. Earlier this year, the company laid out a timeline for when these CPUs would pop up on the market, noting that it would be sometime in 2025. That could still end up happening. However, a recent rumor suggests that the release of AMD’s next-gen CPUs for the desktop has been delayed.
This is about all the details that AMD has confirmed about these CPUs at the moment, unfortunately. So there’s no official indication of how much of an improvement they’ll provide over the Zen 5 CPUs in terms of performance. That being said, the Zen 5 CPUs reportedly came with a 16% improvement in the instructions per clock. This is in addition to a 33% increase in the core count.
AMD Zen 6 CPUs could be released in late 2026 or early 2027
The rumor comes from a “well-known leaker” named Kpeler, who posted on X about the potential timing. “Late 2026/early 2027, as far as I know,” Kepler said. As TweakTown notes, AMD was thought to be releasing these CPUs sometime in late 2025. A late 2026 release would be at least a year-long delay. Suggesting that AMD still has plenty of work to do on the development of these chips. If the rumor is accurate.
Although AMD hasn’t shared any information about the Zen 6 CPUs at the moment, other rumors TweakTown says, state that the Zen 6 architecture won’t be a “notable generational uplift.” As always it’s good to take these things with a grain of salt this far ahead of the product release. Even if these CPUs were arriving in late 2025, that’s still a year out from now. And a lot can change in a year.
That gives AMD plenty of time to adjust any tech necessary. And by the time it does release the Zen 6 CPUs, things could have changed to where they’re providing more of a boost over what’s currently available.
The new CPUs will be compatible with AM5 motherboards
Those looking at AMD’s next CPU series will seemingly have to wait a while before they can upgrade. The good news is that anyone who already owns an AM5-based motherboard won’t have to upgrade that as well. This is another rumor that hasn’t been confirmed yet, but, it does seem likely. It’s certainly possible, as AMD has stated it would continue to support AM5 motherboards through 2027. What remains to be seen is how far beyond that users would have support for an AM5 motherboard and Zen 6 CPU combo.
Only time will tell, at this stage. Especially considering how far out we may be from being able to purchase a Zen 6 CPU. Elsewhere, AMD said earlier this year that it would let users divert RAM for gaming on laptops.