AMD RDNA 4 really might be just a 'bug fix' if all-new UDNA GPUs arrive in Q2 2026 as rumored

AMD is abandoning the RDNA name after the (soon to arrive) RX 8000 family of GPUs, with the following generation after RDNA 4 set to be called UDNA.

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RDNA 4 might be rumored to top out at the mid-range, but hopefully UDNA will give us higher-end rivals to NVIDIA models again (Image Credit: AMD)

That's what we're told by a regular leaker on the Chiphell forum, Zhangzhonghao, who explains that CDNA and RDNA, Instinct AI (data center) and Radeon gaming GPUs respectively, will both be brought under the same UDNA umbrella sooner than we expected.

AMD had already announced its planned transition to UDNA - one unified (hence the 'U') architecture - a couple of months ago. Hints were dropped that made us think RDNA 5 would probably still happen - and the move to UDNA GPUs would come after that - but if this rumor is right, the change will come through more quickly. RDNA 5 won't exist, with RX 9000 taking the UDNA name.

The leaker claims:

"MI400 [Instinct] and RX 9000 use the same UDNA, and the architecture uses an ALU design similar to GCN."

Zhangzhonghao believes that the UDNA (RX 9000) gaming GPUs will hit mass production in Q2 of 2026, or at least that's the 'tentative' schedule. We'd imagine it is tentative as well, as that seems awfully quick considering RDNA 4 may not debut until later in Q1 2025, so that's not much more than a year between these ranges - which feels unlikely.

Unless, of course, RDNA 4 really is a minor refresh or effectively a 'bug fix' for RDNA 3 as some have suggested in the past, in which case, that timeframe is entirely plausible. So, that gives us fresh hope that perhaps we might see high-end RX 9000 GPUs with UDNA, if AMD is planning something big in the way of change for the following generation after RDNA 4.

UDNA for the PS6

We're also informed that the Sony PlayStation 6 will use UDNA for its integrated graphics, and either a Zen 4 or Zen 5 CPU. The leaker further notes that Sony's upcoming handheld will also use AMD hardware, as could Microsoft's rumored effort - though the latter might go with Qualcomm rather than Team Red.

All of this speculation comes from the supply chain over in Asia, but there are no hints as yet to the potential performance of these UDNA gaming graphics cards. It's still too early in the game for that.

Take all of this with more salt than usual, we'd suggest, although as noted, AMD has already let us know it plans to shift over to the UDNA architecture in the future to unify its GPUs. Whether that will happen as soon as 2026, we shall have to wait and see.

Read more: AMD's RX 7000 GPUs are getting price cuts left, right and center - so should you buy now?