(Image credit: Intel)

Intel has updated its mobile lineup with Panther Lake, which feels like a true next-gen leap in every way, but its upcoming desktop series is a by-the-books iterative upgrade. Arrow Lake Refresh is confirmed to launch this year, and the latest rumor from @momomo_us says that date is March 2026. The review embargo for the initial batch of ARL-R chips is reportedly lifting on March 23.

The Arrow Lake refresh lineup is expected to serve as a stopgap before the next-gen desktop product, Nova Lake, debuts at the end of this year. Each SKU in this release is a more advanced version of the existing Arrow Lake silicon. For instance, the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has a 24-core configuration—up from 8 P-cores and 12 E-cores on the Core Ultra 7 265K to 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores.

Similarly, the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus is an upgrade to the existing Core Ultra 5 245K, featuring a 6P+12E core configuration that improves on the 6P+8E core layout of the latter. There are minor clock-speed bumps throughout, such as the P-core turbo increasing from 5.2 GHz to 5.3 GHz. Across the Arrow Lake refresh lineup, native CUDIMM RAM support has been upgraded to DDR5-7200.

Both the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus also had their prices leaked today, but take these with a grain of salt, as we still have a long way to go before launch, if the rumors are to be believed. The Core Ultra 5 250K Plus was priced at $245.92, while the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus was listed at $357.12 on an undisclosed retailer, shared by @momomo_us. There's also a non-Plus Core Ultra 5 250KF (no iGPU) priced at $227.38.

Compared with the MSRP of the current-gen Arrow Lake chips they'll replace, we see a reduction across the board. The Core Ultra 7 265K, for example, launched at $394, but its successor is listed for just $357. The Core Ultra 5 245K cost $319 when it first came out, while only a $245 ask is mentioned for the 250K Plus. Lastly, the 245KF debuted at $29,4, yet the 250KF is supposedly only $227.

Street pricing for these CPUs is very different: we've seen the Core Ultra 5 245KF on sale for $199 on Newegg (with a free 240mm AIO), while the 265K is discounted to $275 on the same retailer's website. Taking all that into consideration, it's a fool's errand to speculate on pricing, especially given the industry's current volatility — not to mention that these were just one vendor's listings.

(Image credit: @momomo_us on X)

The most important takeaway from these two news items is the absence of a Core Ultra 9 SKU, specifically the 290K Plus, which may indicate a staggered launch. The reality is much grimmer, though: Videocardz reports that the chip has been cancelled because the 285K already is a 24-core SKU, so there won't be any real added value.

Unlike AMD, which offers a simple clock-speed bump with its recent Ryzen 7 9850X3D, Intel doesn't consider a simple clock-speed bump a meaningful enough upgrade to justify a refresh of an existing chip. According to sources close to the matter, the Blue Team doesn't want a "product overlap" with two 24-core chips, so it's been cancelled outright in favor of upgraded Core Ultra 7 and Core Ultra 5 SKUs.

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