Linux 7.3 Features Many Exciting Improvements, New Hardware Support & Faster Btrfs
Linux 7.3-rc1 bundles a broad systems upgrade: faster Btrfs and FUSE paths, RWF_DONTCACHE for block devices, sched_ext feature completion, AppArmor compressed policies, new RISC-V and Apple M3 support, initial 2026 Steam Controller support, and more Zen 6 enablement.
The release also carries KSMBD interoperability for Apple Time Machine, USB-C capability checks, USB4STREAM busy polling, NVK video groundwork, Rust-for-Linux GCC-backend preparation, and removal of obsolete or insecure drivers. Phoronix’s early Btrfs gains are workload-specific, not a universal guarantee.
The 11-response discussion supplied an important counterweight: one user reported Lenovo ACPI battery regressions and USB4/Thunderbolt storage problems on newer kernels, while another planned to move to 7.3 around rc5. New kernel features still arrive with desktop and laptop regression risk.