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Intel isn’t done with Arrow Lake yet. After having launched a total of 22 locked and unlocked SKUs since last year's not-so-incredible launch, the company is now looking forward to the next wave. According to ZDNet Korea, a refresh of the Arrow Lake-S desktop lineup is reportedly set for release in the second half of 2025, and while it won’t introduce new core architectures, it will bring minor upgrades to (try to) stay competitive, including a bulked-up NPU that supports CoPilot+. Expect slightly higher clock speeds thanks to better silicon binning and refinements on the Intel 20A process, which introduced RibbonFET and PowerVia in Arrow Lake’s initial release.

This new report comes after a previous leak from @momomo_us, who shared motherboard reference documents revealing the existence of Arrow Lake 2.0, if you will. As such, the refresh will remain on the LGA 1851 socket and continue to use 800-series chipsets, ensuring that current motherboards remain fully compatible and extend their life for one final generation before Nova Lake replaces them next year.

Core configurations reportedly won’t change—Lion Cove P-cores and Skymont E-cores are staying the same—but firmware and tuning optimizations will likely lead to a boost in efficiency. Intel has been trying its best to gain whatever ground possible when it comes to squeezing more juice out of Arrow Lake with updates like Core Boost 200S at Computex earlier this year, and "IPO" optimized memory profiles that are currently live in China with various system integrators.

Moreover, one notable upgrade is the rumored new NPU4, which would make its debut on Arrow Lake-S refresh after its introduction in last year's Lunar Lake mobile chips. The original Arrow Lake desktop CPUs shipped with NPU3 (from Meteor Lake) which only had 13 TOPS of AI power, short of Microsoft’s Copilot+ AI PC requirements of at least 40 TOPS. The refresh is expected to surpass that with 48 TOPS, which will be able to handle the increasing demands of local AI workloads. With AI features becoming more central to consumer usage, this NPU upgrade is likely Intel’s main play. It should allow the company to brand these chips as AI-ready.

There’s no indication yet of how Intel will brand the refresh—whether it’ll fall under the same Core Ultra 200 series umbrella or branch off as a new tier—but this is more of an iterative performance uplift than a fully-blown new generation. It’s likely a strategic move to extend Arrow Lake’s shelf life while the company gears up for Nova Lake, which is still expected in 2026 on the Intel 18A node.

ZDNet Korea also reported that Intel's actual next-gen architecture is still more than a year away since the launch is currently scheduled for H2 2026. Till then, Intel's declining market share will have to cling on for dear life as the market continues to see red.