The MSI Claw is creating excitement as a notable product revealed at CES 2024. It not only intensifies the competition in the gaming handheld market but also signifies Intel’s debut in this sector, featuring their first Arc-based Core Ultra 100H series.
According to an interview with Clifford Chun, MSI’s System Product Managing Director, reported by IGN, it is disclosed that the Claw marks just the initial phase of MSI’s ambitious agenda. They are already considering future updates for the series, pledging additional powerful CPU and GPU choices.
MSI verified that the first Claw took two years to develop. The product might have debuted earlier if Intel had released Meteor Lake a bit sooner, which occurred only in the December last year.
MSI intends to stick to a steady 2 to 3-year release cycle for its systems, and they are already working on the upcoming Claw 2, 3, and 4. Although specific upgrades are not yet revealed, the main emphasis will be on improving CPU and GPU capabilities, with the possibility of additional refreshes.
Given the selection of Intel for the upcoming Claw series, the notable CPUs on the horizon include Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake, the latter incorporating the new Xe2 GPU architecture. However, it’s important to highlight that Lunar Lake is tailored for low-power systems, and gaming handhelds with typical power consumption of 15-30W might require a more potent solution. The alternative in consideration is Panther Lake, anticipated to introduce a new CPU core architecture and the Xe3 GPU series, but its arrival isn’t expected until 2025/2026, potentially aligning with MSI’s timeline.
The release date for the upcoming Claw handheld will be determined by MSI, and they haven’t provided a specific date. Various media outlets speculate on different timelines, with some suggesting a potential arrival by the end of Q1, others proposing the first half of 2024, and IGN even asserting a launch in the second half of 2024. One certainty is that MSI aims to unveil its new series before the arrival of AMD Strix Point handhelds equipped with the Zen5/RDNA3.5 upgrade.
IGN: Let’s talk about its lifespan. How many years do you expect to support the MSI Claw? Is there a possibility you guys may release an upgrade that might include an OLED display, or update the specs?
Chun: So, just like our laptops, our aim for users who use this will be roughly two to three years because game titles demand a lot more every two or three years. So, at least minimum, that kind of stuff. Obviously, if you play retro games, you can play MSI Claw for 10 years. So, this will be only the first version of our Claw. We are anticipating to come out version 2, version 3, version 4 down the road and it’s already in the pipeline.
Source: IGN