Sapphire has seemingly distributed special variants of its flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT Nitro+ graphics card model to Chinese press and influencer outlets. A Phantom Link edition received pre-launch video coverage earlier in the week, swiftly followed by the surprise appearance of a white spin-off. Yesterday, the Just Buy (if you like it) video channel showcased Sapphire's pale redecoration of the current-gen Nitro+ design—possibly the first of its kind. Normally, this premium card design—within the RDNA 4 generation—sports a luxurious champagne gold finish. The not-yet-released "Aurora Edition" veers closer to the Hong Kong-based manufacturer's upper-mid-range PURE product theme.

So far, previewers have not paired their card samples with Sapphire's X870EA Wi-Fi Phantom Link Edition motherboard . Instead, Just Buy settled on utilizing an ASUS TUF Gaming BTF-type mainboard; readily compatible with the Phantom Link system—merely Sapphire's rebranding of the modular GC-HPWR adapter. They freely swapped between the Sapphire card, and (what looks like) a TUF Gaming RTX 5070 Ti BTF White model. As mentioned by Uniko's Hardware, Tony Yu (aka Uncle Tony)—general manager of the ASUS China branch—has personally "endorsed" the Radeon RX 9070 XT Nitro+ Phantom Link design. Industry observers believe that the current seeding of press samples will build up hype before an official unveiling at CES 2026, potentially followed by a widespread retail release. At the time of writing, early hands-on demonstrations did not include any on-screen or benchmarking sessions.