(Image credit: Intel)

Following Panther Lake, Intel's upcoming Nova Lake family is set to be a true next-gen leap as well. While Panther Lake is mobile-only, Nova Lake is desktop-first but also has mobile parts, just like the current Arrow Lake (refresh) lineup. Prior leaks have indicated that NVL scales from 6 cores all the way up to 52 cores at the top-end, but a new rumor from tipster Jaykihn says the 6-core mobile SKU has been shelved.

As you'd expect, the 6-core part in question would've been the lowest-end offering from Nova Lake, targeted entirely at the budget segment. The issue is, Intel already launched a product for this market, and it's called Wildcat Lake — the successor to Twin Lake. The lineup was announced in April and is meant exclusively for low-end laptops, mini-PCs, and edge. It shares an architectural foundation with Panther Lake and is limited to 6 cores.

The 6-core Nova Lake SKU would have reportedly featured 2 P-cores and 4 LP-E cores, which is the same as Wildcat Lake's current maxed-out configuration. The difference would lie in the architecture since Nova Lake is expected to switch to Coyote Cove P-cores and Arctic Wolf E-cores/LP-E cores, while Wildcat Lake (and Panther Lake) right now use Cougar Cove P-cores and Darkmont E-cores/LP-E cores.

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Therefore, a Nova Lake CPU featuring 6 cores would overlap with Wildcat Lake, or more specifically, whatever the Wildcat Lake refresh will be. Either product could end up cannibalizing the other, but since Wildcat Lake already exists with unneeded I/O stripped out to save costs, it makes sense to leave the entry-level Nova Lake silicon behind. After all, demand for Wildcat Lake is exceeding Intel's own expectations.

With the advent of Apple's MacBook Neo, there's a rejuvenated interest in capturing this segment of the market since the Neo is so competitive. At Computex 2026, we've seen a few promising options that should challenge the Neo with perhaps even better specs, all powered by Wildcat Lake. Putting a costlier Nova Lake chip in one of these laptops next year just wouldn't allow for aggressive pricing.

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