RK3688: What to Expect from Rockchip’s Next-Gen AI SoC

RK3688: What to Expect from Rockchip’s Next-Gen AI SoC

If you’ve been looking at Rockchip chips recently, you’ve probably seen two names pop up all the time. RK3588 is everywhere right now. And then there’s RK3688, which people keep mentioning like it’s the next big thing, but nobody really has in their hands yet.

So the question is simple. Do you wait for RK3688, or just go with RK3588 and move on?

How Rockchip got here?

If you go back a few years, Rockchip was mostly known for simple stuff. Cheap Android boxes, tablets, things like that. Nothing very exciting. It just worked, and that was enough for a lot of products; most people didn’t really pay attention to the chip inside.

Then chips like RK3288 and later RK3399 started to show up. That’s where things changed a bit. People began using them in development boards, not just media devices. RK3399 was not perfect, far from it, but it was powerful enough to try real projects. You could run Linux, connect things, build something small but useful. That’s when more developers started looking at Rockchip.

After that, the progress was not fast, but steady. RK3566 and RK3568 came out. Not huge upgrades, but easier to work with. Lower power, simpler boards, fewer surprises. You could actually build stable systems with them without spending weeks fixing small issues. For a lot of embedded use cases, that mattered more than raw performance.

Rockchip RK3588

RK3588 is already a known thing. It’s been around long enough that people actually use it in real products, not just demos. It has eight CPU cores, four fast ones and four smaller ones that don’t eat as much power. There’s also a GPU and a built-in NPU that can handle basic AI tasks without much trouble. Things like image recognition or video processing are not a problem for it.

The bigger point is not even the specs. It’s that everything around RK3588 already works. Boards exist, software exists, people have already hit the bugs and fixed them. If you build something with it, you’re not starting from zero.

Rockchip RK3688

RK3688 feels different. It’s not just a bit faster. From what people expect, it should be a more serious jump. Especially for AI. Likely better CPU, stronger NPU, maybe better efficiency too. It sounds good on paper, but right now it’s still more of a coming soon situation than something you can actually buy and use.

If you dig a bit deeper into how these chips evolve and what exactly changes between generations, this RK3688 technical comparison gives a clearer picture of what Rockchip is trying to do with the new lineup.

RK3588 vs RK3688: Key Differences

The tricky part is timing. Even when a new chip shows up, it doesn’t mean you can instantly build something stable with it. Usually, early versions are limited, software is rough, and the documentation is not great. It takes time before everything settles down and becomes usable without constant issues.

RK3588 is already past that stage. RK3688 is not there yet.

So it really comes down to what you need. If you’re building something now, or you just want something that works without surprises, RK3588 is still the safe option. It’s not new, but it’s reliable.

If your project is not urgent and you’re aiming for higher performance, especially for heavier AI workloads, then waiting for RK3688 could make sense, but no one knows when it will come.

In the end, it’s not really about which chip is better. It’s more about timing. RK3588 is ready today. RK3688 is still on the way. That’s pretty much it.