AMD Sound Wave rumours resurface as Microsoft reportedly plans cheaper Surface devices

Apple’s formerly $599 MacBook Neo appears to have prompted some changes in the Windows laptop market. According to a new DigiTimes report, Microsoft is reportedly reconsidering its Surface strategy in response to Apple’s aggressive pricing and rising component costs. The company is said to be exploring substantial specification reductions for an entry-level 12-inch Surface device, including a reassessment of its choice of processor.

The report’s headline also mentions a potential return for AMD and Arm, which is particularly interesting given some earlier rumours about AMD’s first Arm-based laptop processor. Codenamed Sound Wave, the mysterious chip was previously tipped to power Microsoft’s 2026 Surface lineup. Leaker KeplerL2 claimed that AMD had designed the processor primarily for Microsoft’s upcoming devices, although that prediction has yet to materialise.

For context, AMD Sound Wave was rumoured to feature six Arm CPU cores split between two performance and four efficiency cores, alongside an RDNA 3.5-based iGPU with four Compute Units. Other purported specifications include 16 MB of MALL cache, a fourth-generation AI engine and LPDDR5X-9600 memory support. The processor was also said to use TSMC’s 3 nm manufacturing process and target a 5-10 W power envelope, making it a plausible candidate for compact, power-efficient Windows devices.

Interestingly, the DigiTimes report comes less than a month after Microsoft refreshed its Surface Pro 12 and Surface Laptop 13 with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Plus processors. Both went on sale on October 13, with starting prices of $1,149.99 and $1,199, respectively.

Of course, it remains unclear whether AMD Sound Wave has anything to do with Microsoft’s reported plans. DigiTimes’ publicly accessible report does not identify a specific processor, confirm a launch window or reveal which specifications could be downgraded. There is also no guarantee that the rumoured device will use AMD hardware instead of another Qualcomm chipset. Nevertheless, the renewed mention of AMD and Arm is worth watching, especially after the earlier claims linking Sound Wave directly to Microsoft’s Surface lineup.