Budget portable PC specialist Chuwi has released an official apology to customers who received devices that didn't match up to expected specifications. The company acknowledged that a limited number of CoreBook X and CoreBook Plus units were assembled with incorrect processors and said affected buyers should return them for a full refund.
The discovery emerged after tech reviewers at NotebookCheck found that certain laptop models featuring outdated Ryzen 5 5500U processors were falsely labeled as newer 7430U variants. Both CPUs share similar specifications with six cores and 12 threads at 15W power consumption and comparable clock speeds, but the 7430U comes with Zen 3 cores and 16MB of L3 cache, while the 5500U has Zen 2 cores and 8MB of L3 cache. The Ryzen 5 5500U is approximately 7% slower on average, though the CoreBook X's single-channel memory configuration widened the gap to 10%.
What troubles observers is the nature of the deception. The chip was showing as the Ryzen 5 7430U inside the CoreBook X's firmware, in Windows, and even in trusted diagnostic tools such as CPU-Z and HWiNFO64. When NotebookCheck tore the laptop down and discovered the chip, the part number (100-000000375) corresponded to the older Ryzen 5 5500U. Mounting evidence pointed to deliberate tampering somewhere in the supply chain, in which the processor had been intentionally altered to mimic a newer Ryzen chip.
Chuwi initially tried to minimise the issue. The company attempted to downplay the controversy, suggesting the mix-up was due to differing production batches and leftover stock on the market. NotebookCheck reported that Chuwi reportedly demanded the publication remove its article around the scandal, seemingly accompanied by threats of legal action over alleged reputational damage. The discovery of a second affected model, the CoreBook Plus, undermined any case for accidental batch confusion.
AMD has made an official statement claiming the company had no knowledge of the matter and stated it does not condone any sort of product mislabelling from any manufacturer whatsoever. The CPU maker warned that it has the right to pursue legal action against entities that mislabel its CPU products.
The scandal extends beyond Chuwi. ComputerBase reported that a Ninkear A15 Pro may show the same behaviour, and NotebookCheck linked the broader case to a shared motherboard and manufacturing source. Both laptops come from Emdoor Digital, a white box manufacturer from China also known as an original design manufacturer (ODM), which creates generic hardware that's then sold to other companies and badged under different labels.
Even if the root cause sits with an upstream supplier, Chuwi still sold systems under its own branding without catching the discrepancy first, as vendor-side validation should have flagged a Zen 2 Ryzen 5 5500U being passed off as a Zen 3 Ryzen 5 7430U. Chuwi's recall programme is only valid until 31 May 2026, and only if the device is in mint condition and is returned with the complete original scope of delivery.
Hong Kong distributor Hornington has moved to offer full refunds and recalls for affected Chuwi products after verifying the issue in its own inventory, naming three impacted product lines: CoreBook X 7430U, CoreBook Plus 7430U, and UBOX 7430U.