Intel’s Next Consumer Desktop Platform Will Be Nova Lake-S, Panther Lake Reportedly Mobile Only

A new rumor from leaker, Jaykihn, suggests that Intel's Nova Lake-S CPUs will be the desktop follow-up to Arrow Lake-S while Panther Lake will be mobile only.

Intel has several next-generation client CPU families in the work but it looks like things are going to get a bit confusing moving forward. Previously, Intel used to have one lineup that scaled across all segments but that started to change with Tiger Lake CPUs which were aimed at mobile platforms & Rocket Lake served as a slight architectural tweak for desktops.

Things got simpler with Alder Lake & Raptor Lake CPUs but that too has seen the addition of Meteor Lake which was initially going to come to desktops but was canned in favor of a mobile-only release. Now, we have Meteor Lake as the newest mobile entrant which serves the 15-45W segment but Raptor Lake still serves as the top performance solution for enthusiast laptops and mainstream desktop PCs.

Next month, Intel will release its next-gen Luanr Lake CPUs which are specifically designed for the thin and light "AI PC" segment while Arrow Lake CPUs will serve as the main driver for the majority of desktop and laptop PCs. While Arrow Lake's successor is already in the works and aiming to launch in 2H 2025, it looks like desktop users will have to wait a bit more to see new action.

Sorry, I saw the word “mobile” and filled it in.No, PTL is mobile-only.Next consumer desktop is Nova Lake.

— Jaykihn (@jaykihn0) August 9, 2024

As per Jaykihn, Intel won't be bringing Panther Lake CPUs to the desktop platform. Instead, these chips will target the mobile segment but scale across a wider range compared to Lunar Lake. For desktops, Intel will be releasing the next update in the form of Nova Lake which means that we're likely going to see the successor to Arrow Lake in 2026. Now there's a good chance that Intel may refresh Arrow Lake CPUs later down the road as an intermediary solution between current & next-gen chips however nothing on that front is confirmed yet.

While details regarding Panther Lake CPUs are widely known such as the use of new Cougar Cove P-Cores, updated E-Cores, and integration of Celestial "Xe3" GPUs, there are limited details available on Nova Lake CPUs as it is a product that hasn't been officially confirmed or announced by the blue team yet. There are early reports that Intel is evaluating both TSMC's node and its 14A process technology for the production of Nova Lake CPUs. These next-gen chips should also deploy Intel's far-future Xe4 architecture, codenamed Druid.

Intel will introduce a new socket and platform with its Arrow Lake CPUs in the form of 800-series and LGA 1851 so we can expect Nova Lake CPUs to retain compatibility with the socket as Intel did offer three generations worth of support on the LGA 1700 socket with another one planned for 2025 in the form of Bartlett Lake. But if changes are required, then we might once again see the shift to a newer socket type. Meanwhile, Intel's competitor has already committed to a 2027+ support plan for its AM5 socket.