Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Are AMD Navi GPUs coming soon? Reference found in MacOS hints at release date

Arif Bacchus
By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Fresh off the announcement of the Radeon Vega VII at CES 2019, there has been plenty of talk about when AMD’s Navi graphics processors could be released. In the latest round of rumors, source code references in MacOS suggest that the next 7nm AMD Navi products might be coming in July.

There are a total of four specific references, to Navi 16, Navi 12, Navi 10 and Navi 9, in a beta version of MacOS Mojave 14.2, as spotted by Gigamaxx, a member of the Tonymacx86.com forums. Though the references were found inside the source code in an “AMDRadeon6000HWServiceskext” file, this still doesn’t quite point to product code names. Instead, it is likely that the references are to the compute units for each of the graphics cards, according to a report from Videocardz. Specific release dates might also still be scarce, but the discovery hints that the release is closer than it seems, as AMD roadmaps have hinted that a release could be timed for the middle of 2019.

Recommended Videos

Further supporting a July release is the fact that similar code references were spotted in MacOS Sierra ahead of the release of the Vega processors now found on board the new 15-inch MacBook Pro model. Based on that timing, it could be assumed that Navi could be coming in about six months, which again is around July.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy

As it is known for, AMD’s new generation of Navi 7nm GPUs is rumored to target the midrange market, and will seek to deliver high performance to consumers without breaking the bank. Previous leaks even showed that the new Navi GPUs were being tested in an internal AMD lab, resulting in promising performance that exceeded expectations. Additionally, despite prior rumors from 2016 about Navi 10 and Navi 11, it was recently suggested that Navi could come instead in two variants, with Navi 10 and Navi 12 being the first graphics processors to launch in the series.

Considering that Nvidia could also be releasing a new GTX 1660 Ti processor for midrange gamers, it will be interesting to see how the performance truly lines up if a release comes in July. Competition between AMD and Nvidia is always good, but for now, here’s a roundup of everything you need to know about AMD’s latest and upcoming 7nm Navi chipsets.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Arif Bacchus
Arif Bacchus
Computing Writer
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
MacBook Air 15-inch: price, release date, battery life, and more
Apple's M2 MacBook Air is super thin and light.

After months of speculation, Apple made the 15-inch MacBook Air official at WWDC 2023. The updated model is basically a larger version of the 13-inch MacBook Air, but there are some important differences that separate the new model.

We're here to give you the rundown on the new MacBook Air and what you can expect out of it, from pricing and the release date to expected performance.
Price and release date

Read more
Will my Mac get macOS 14?
MacOS Sonoma.

MacOS 14 is coming and coming soon, and thanks to Apple's big keynote address at WWDC 2023, we now know what it can do, what it's called, and who can get it. The next generation Mac operating system is codenamed Sonoma, and it's bringing gaming to macOS in a big way, as well as improving video calls, and security. It's going to be available for most modern Mac and MacBook users, but there are some legacy systems that are unfortunately being left out in the cold.

Wondering if your Mac can get macOS 14? Here's everything we know about what Macs are and aren't compatible with Sonoma.

Read more
Apple’s macOS Sonoma has a game-changing feature — literally
A person plays games on a MacBook using a third-party games controller.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) was chock-full of new announcements, and it’s fair to say that between the Vision Pro headset and all of Apple’s new Macs, macOS was far from the biggest new reveal. Yet, there was one new macOS feature that could be absolutely game-changing.

That’s because right now, Mac gaming is in a pretty bad way. Gamers don’t buy Macs because there aren’t enough good games, and developers don’t port their games to the Mac because there aren’t enough people to play them. It’s a chicken-and-egg situation caught in a death spiral.

Read more