The Radeon RX 7900-series launch may not be smooth for AMD if the latest rumors are accurate. Various sources have claimed that AMD's next-generation products, which will vie for a spot on the list of best graphics cards, may be facing supply issues and packaging problems specific to the Chinese market. We've reached out to AMD for comment.
Chinese hardware leakers ECSM_Official and MEGAsizeGPU believe that reference Radeon RX 7900-series graphics cards will not be available initially in mainland China due to import regulations. The reason is that the packaging states that the product is "Made in Taiwan," which reportedly violates China's labeling requirement for imported goods from Taiwan. As a result, according to one leaker, AMD will likely have to prepare new packaging for reference Radeon RX 7900-series SKUs just for China.
It's not the first time that China has strictly cracked down on the mislabeling of the country of production on computer hardware. Earlier this year, Corsair had admitted to a printing error on some of the brand's products sold in China.
Meanwhile, the German publication Igor's Lab claims to have learned that approximately 10,000 reference Radeon RX 7900-series graphics cards will be available for the EMEA region, with around 3,000 units allocated for Germany. The outlet's sources allege that driver and BIOS problems have plagued AMD's upcoming graphics cards. According to the publication, one of the "big exclusive partners" won't ship its products until after the official launch, meaning they won't hit the shelves until one week later. Another anonymous vendor purportedly claims that its graphics cards probably won't arrive until January 2023.
On the other hand, there is a discussion on Board Channel that new coronavirus outbreaks have forced some factories to close their doors. However, a few affected factories have recently reopened, reportedly involving Radeon RX 7900-series shipments.
While many manufacturers have revealed their custom RDNA 3 graphics cards, only some may actually see availability come December 13. AMD pitches its Radeon RX 7900-series as a competitor to Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4080. The Ada Lovelace graphics card retails for $1,199, whereas the Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX will sell for $899 and $999, respectively. Assuming that RDNA 3 is competitive and AMD has enough stock, Nvidia could be in trouble.
A recent rumor, which also originated from the Board Channel forum, claims that Nvidia could potentially lower the price of the GeForce RTX 4080 in mid-December. The alleged reason is to improve the GeForce RTX 4080's price-to-performance ratio and stimulate sales rather than fear of the RDNA 3 launch. The GeForce RTX 4080 hasn't been selling all that well, so a price cut would certainly help boost sales in the holiday season and fend off RDNA 3.
