After Xbox announced it’s prolonging its partnership with AMD for its upcoming consoles, alongside the fact that it produces part of the hardware in the ROG Xbox Ally X, AMD is clearly making its mark (and has already made its mark) in the console and handheld market. It released its video to cement its Microsoft collaboration, where it was putting gamers first, and with that, proving it still wants to fight Nvidia.

Recent reports from JPR show the stark difference each of the manufacturers has in the graphics card department. Particularly in AIB (add in board) shares show Nvidia’s dominance in that department, where it takes up 92% of shipped cards compared to AMD’s 8%, as Intel gets zero. That’s in stark contrast to the total PC GPU shares in the same period, where Nvidia only has 20% compared to Intel with 63% and AMD with 17%, as this likely encapsulates APUs and chips with integrated graphics.

That’s where AMD has proven itself to be a top choice of processors in the handheld consoles. Found in the likes of the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Legion Go, and more, they know how to make a powerful and efficient processor. Giving it excellent battery life and efficient performance, especially seen in the SteamOS Legion Go S, even MSI has moved away from Intel for its latest Claw handheld, as it upgrades to Ryzen Z2 hardware.

On the other hand, Nvidia is a lot more centred on one console system with its Switch 2 processor. The custom Nvidia chip comes with some important breakthroughs, including bringing the RTX platform to the console with DLSS and ray tracing. It’s not as powerful as AMD’s handheld chips, but we should remember that the Nintendo Switch needs to carefully balance the price-performance ratio to appeal to its target audience.

AMD and Nvidia beyond gaming GPUs

Both companies have more than just gaming GPUs. One of the big influences Nvidia has is with its enterprise and AI graphics cards filling out the mass of servers powering those systems. Even Jensen said that this is essentially the new GeForce, potentially stating how it has moved beyond the market that makes up a smaller fraction of its revenue.

In comparison, AMD also has plenty of gaming CPUs, with some of the top-placed options being X3D chips that dominate the market. That climb can even be seen with the Steam Hardware survey and AMD’s shares rising in the processor sector. It’s slowly managing to do that with GPUs as well, with Radeon gaining shares, even if it doesn’t specify which ones they are. But alongside Linux rising in OS adoption, it could just show that AMD’s prominence in handheld devices is helping its market share.

With all that, AMD partnering and working on its range of APUs, CPUs, and GPUs has a lot to offer to various markets. With its desktop cards being great value, processors being the top pick, and APUs being the go-to, it can slowly become more of a gaming brand than Nvidia. Intel is still in the fight, but it is playing catch-up, and the brand is rebuilding itself with a new CEO.

About the Author

Sebastian Kozlowski

With a fascination for technology and games, Seb is a tech writer with a focus on hardware, news, and deals. He is also a tester and reviewer for the site. Contact him @ [email protected]