I have been trying to form a clear idea based on the little information floating around. Here is my take (I will update it as more info comes). The majority of the current reviews are based on handheld gaming devices [1], the main differences compared to PC: everything is soldered, smaller screen and less peripherals.
The closest baseline to 7X40U is the AMD 6800U, which has already showed a way better battery life than Intel 12th Gen [2][Youtube v=3bSetglEPOY] (16.5h vs 13h on light load, 4h vs ~3h on heavy load) with comparable CPU performance.
The benchmarks from the handhelds show a +10% CPU performance for the 7640U and +20% for the 7840U over the baseline.
The AMDs shine in the iGPU department, as they are roughly equivalent to a GTX 1660 in performance (not TDP) and I doubt the Intel 13th could compete in that department.
Intel 13th is not looking bad either, with some claims of +30% battery life on the framework laptop [3] (+10% might be due to the larger battery capacity, with no reference to the baseline whether it was 11th gen or 12th gen).
There is also the question of choosing between 7640U and 7840U. For a 10% gain on performance, the price might not be worth it for some. Could these CPU beat M1/M2? The current benchmarks say they can’t. You either have to choose between battery life or performance, the M1/M2 performance/Watt is at least 2x the AMDs on heavy load. On light load (browsing and coding), I think we’ll finally be able to go +12h with the 7x40U.
In the end, it will depend on how optimized the framework motherboard. I’m looking forward to upgrading my 11th gen framework, but I prefer to wait to find out as I’m not into buying fish while it’s still in the sea.