• Intel has confirmed its CPU roadmap for the close to future
• Panther Lake is due later in 2025, and Nova Lake in 2026
• It’s nonetheless not made clear if Panther Lake will skip desktop, nevertheless it appears seemingly that next-gen desktop CPUs received’t be right here till subsequent 12 months

Intel has confirmed its future CPU plans and the way the agency’s supposed roadmap will pan out throughout 2025 and 2026, albeit whereas leaving query marks over sure specifics.

We acquired affirmation of current plans – that Panther Lake is due this 12 months, and Nova Lake subsequent 12 months – however there’s nonetheless no certainty over whether or not we’ll get a brand new technology of desktop CPUs later in 2025 (in different phrases, whether or not Intel will stick with its standard yearly cadence).

As VideoCardz stories, what Intel’s present (interim) co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus revealed throughout a latest earnings name is that we are able to anticipate Crew Blue to launch Panther Lake silicon, its subsequent technology, within the second half of 2025.

Holthaus then noticed: “2026 is much more thrilling from a shopper perspective as Panther Lake achieves significant volumes and we introduce our next-generation shopper household codenamed Nova Lake.

“Each will present sturdy efficiency throughout the whole PC stack with considerably higher price and margin for us, enhancing our aggressive place and reinforcing our price proposition to our companions and clients.”

Evaluation: Type of the Panther

Okay, so next-gen Panther Lake continues to be due later in 2025, and 2026 would be the 12 months of Nova Lake, the next technology. Good to know, or fairly, to have that confirmed once more.

The query is: what type will Panther Lake and Nova Lake take, precisely? The present rumor is that Panther Lake will likely be cell chips solely, that means simply laptops, not desktop PCs. The sightings of next-gen desktop chips by way of the rumor mill have been confined solely to Nova Lake (thus far, and it’s getting late within the day now).

Primarily based on what Intel’s co-CEO says right here, there’s no particular point out of desktop CPUs, in order that isn’t useful. Nonetheless, what we do get from Holthaus is an assertion that “each will present sturdy efficiency throughout the whole PC stack” and the important thing phrase right here is ‘each’ after all.

The “complete PC stack” means cell and desktop, the works, and what seems to be said right here is that each Panther Lake and Nova Lake collectively will cowl the whole PC stack between them. That is nonetheless true if Panther Lake doesn’t have a desktop incarnation.

Alternatively, you could possibly learn this as each Panther Lake and Nova Lake will individually cowl the total stack, each desktop and cell, in their very own proper – however that doesn’t really feel just like the intention right here. By which I imply, for me, this appears to be a approach of phrasing issues that’s intentionally ambiguous to gloss over whether or not or not Panther Lake may have a desktop presence.

Take that for what you’ll, after all, and we completely don’t know for positive. Perhaps Intel does have Panther Lake desktop chips within the works, however based mostly on the rumors, it appears comparatively unlikely.

One other various may very well be that Panther Lake is laptop computer solely, however Intel might carry out an Arrow Lake Refresh on desktop later this 12 months alongside it, as a stopgap earlier than Nova Lake desktop CPUs in 2026. Keep in mind, that’s what occurred with Raptor Lake, and it was a really minor generational bump – however previous rumors have claimed Intel is just not going to hold out such a refresh with Arrow Lake for desktops.

In the end, for now, it appears to me that the chances are Intel’s next-gen desktop silicon received’t be right here till 2026 when Nova Lake blazes into city.

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