AMD Polaris Rumored For New Macs, PlayStation 4K

Rumors say AMD has design wins in upcoming Macs, Sony’s upgraded PS4

By Brad Jones April 19, 2016

amd radeon ssd lone star campus — Image used with permission by copyright holder

AMD was angling to make an impact when it officially unveiled its next-generation Polaris architecture at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, and it seems that the effort paid off. Reports are circulating that the manufacturer is set to supply parts to both Apple and Sony for major product releases.

Apple is apparently planning to use Polaris architecture in both its upcoming laptops and desktops. Polaris 10 and 11 chips — formerly referred to under the codenames Ellesmere and Baffin — are expected to be used in hardware hitting the market later this year.

A relationship with Apple might not be a standout for AMD in terms of volume, but the luxury price tag on a product like the MacBook suggests that the manufacturer will see a healthy profit, as indicated by reporting from WCCF Tech. The fact that the head of AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group, Raja Koduri previously worked on graphics at Apple perhaps helped facilitate the arrangement. Apple has turned to using AMD hardware as of late, after a period of preferring Nvidia that lasted until about three years ago.

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Meanwhile, it seems that AMD will also contribute parts to the increasingly tangible PS4K. The updated version of the PlayStation 4 has yet to be officially announced, but is looking more and more like the worst kept secret in video games — it seems that the new console will act as a souped-up version of the original box to allow to compete with PC hardware for a little while longer.

Recently leaked system specs may not reference Polaris 10 by name, but the GPU being described seems awfully similar, according to a report from Hexus. The new system on a chip being assembled for the PS4K apparently doubles the stream count of the standard PS4, and boasts a 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface, with 8GB of memory.

Of course, that would make sense, as Sony will need its upgraded PS4 to be completely compatible with the current game library. Simply upgrading the GPU with the latest AMD architecture would make it (relatively) simple for Sony to ensure its platform remains intact.

The prospective timing of Apple’s implementation of Polaris makes WWDC 2016 seem like the obvious choice for an official announcement about new Macs. Meanwhile, Sony seems likely to unveil the PS4K at E3, so we’ll know whether or not it uses Polaris at that time.

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