A newly released presentation from AMD, which owns the graphics manufacturer ATI, suggests that the company's upcoming series of mobile GPUs could power the next-generation Xbox 720 console from Microsoft. That's not the platform's official name—which has been codenamed "Durango" for some time now, but it's what everyone's calling it until Microsoft makes a proper announcement.
AMD GPUs are coyly touted in the presentation as the "graphics technology of choice in game consoles" in a slide titled "AMD Radeon Leading the Way in Gaming" (via techPowerUp and Gamechup) . It could well be a reference to AMD's presence in both the newly released Wii U and the Xbox 360, but the presentation as a whole has nothing to do with existing technologies.
The manufacturer used the presentation to announce the AMD HD 8000M series of GPUs, a mobile chip which offers more power than anything aboard current generation consoles. Even at its lowest end, AMD's HD 8500M boasts faster engine and memory clocks and stream processors than the Xenos graphics chip that powers the Xbox 360. It offers almost double the computing power. The most powerful card in the lineup, the HD 8800M offers slightly over 4 times the power.
The cards are set for release on mobile platforms in the first quarter of 2013. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft or Sony will adopt the AMD cards or go for nVidia's Kepler series, which powers the newly released Apple iMacs.
MIcrosoft is expected to announce the next-generation console at E3 2013 or at a separate Microsoft event. It's been over half a decade since the release of the Xbox 360, so the new console's a very long time coming.
