Intel Arrow Lake May Not Release Until December – And That Could Seal AMD’s Ryzen 9000 Victory in the Next-Gen CPU War
If a new rumor is true, Intel’s Arrow Lake processors may not arrive until late 2024.
This comes from regular hardware leaker HXL, as shared on X in a very brief statement, informing us that Arrow Lake sales won’t start until December.
In case you were wondering, ARL-S refers to Arrow Lake-S, with the “S” suffix denoting desktop processors (there are also Arrow Lake mobile CPUs coming to notebooks, with more powerful, higher-end models that complement Lunar Lake, the next generation of laptop silicon that places an emphasis on power efficiency).
We’ve previously heard that the Arrow Lake desktop would arrive later in 2024, and more recently Intel assured us that its next-generation processors would arrive in the fourth quarter, which could theoretically mean October.
With a September 2024 announcement reportedly being targeted, we’d imagine a release the following month would be the most likely scenario. However, if this latest speculation is true – and of course, put on your skeptical hat, with this and previous claims – it’s a pretty disappointing slide into the end of the year.
Analysis: Intel is currently struggling
Given Intel’s promise of a fourth quarter release, a December release would be the last date Team Blue could hold off on allowing Arrow Lake to challenge for a spot on our best CPU list.
It’s also worth noting that another leaker (Harukaze5719) on X agreed to highlight an earlier rumor from Jaykihn that ‘QS’ for Arrow Lake, which stands for the final Qualification Sample test and validation, is scheduled for week 40 of 2024, which is the first week of October. This would align with a target sale date of December, and so is a worrying hint that this new pessimistic prediction might be correct.
If Arrow Lake comes out in December, what does that mean for Intel? Nothing good, honestly, since AMD is releasing its next-gen CPUs, Ryzen 9000, soon (they’re set to debut in late July). Given that, Intel would be five months behind on Arrow Lake if it doesn’t release until later this year – by which time, Ryzen 9000 X3D will likely have arrived, or may even have been out for a while already, if another rumor is correct.
On top of all this, Intel is currently suffering from something of a PR nightmare, as crashes with its more recent Core i9 processors remain a nagging and controversial issue. Whether Arrow Lake will fix these annoying problems, of course, remains to be seen – but it’s a new socket and a different architecture, and it’s not pushing quite as hard on the power front, so we can certainly be hopeful.
Through Tom’s Hardware
