Rumors are once again pointing towards the cancellation of Intel's Meteor Lake-S Desktop CPUs & Arrow Lake-S to take its place sometime in 2024.

Intel Axes Meteor Lake-S Desktop CPUs As Per Latest Rumors, Arrow Lake-S Launches Instead Next Year

According to @OneRaichu who has been keeping a tight grip on the latest Intel client CPUs, it looks like the Meteor Lake-S Desktop lineup has once again been rumored to be canceled. Earlier, similar rumors were started by the leaker and while there were hints over the past few months which had been a glimmer of hope, it looks like the latest roadmap for Intel's Client CPUs doesn't include any Meteor Lake-S Desktop lineup.

I am so sad for Meteor Lake-S dead.

R.I.P.

(In the May RM for intel client, MTL-S is canceled final and ARL-S 6+8 die will instead.)

— Raichu (@OneRaichu) May 22, 2023

The emergence of a test tool and a leaked slide once again reignited the possibility of seeing Intel's Meteor Lake CPUs on the desktop platform. These CPUs would have existed alongside the next-gen Arrow Lake chips on the LGA 1851 socketed platform however, that no longer seems to be the case and instead, we might only be getting Arrow Lake CPUs in 2024 which would follow the Raptor Lake Refresh planned for 2H 2023.

An alleged Intel CPU Roadmap for client platforms showing the cancellation of Meteor Lake-S CPUs. (Image Credits: OneRaichu)

The same leaker also points out that the Arrow Lake-S CPUs will come in 6+8 die configurations which marks a huge downgrade from the previously expected 8+16 die configuration. This would mean that the Arrow Lake Desktop CPU lineup will max out at 14 cores and 20 threads which is a lot less than the 24 cores and 32 threads (8+16) we get on the Raptor Lake-S Desktop CPUs.

Going back to 14 cores will not be good for marketing reasons since Intel will not only be offering fewer cores than its existing chips but also lower cores than AMD's 16-core Ryzen offerings. While Zen 5 isn't expected to increase core counts beyond 16, 14 cores are still the same amount you get on a laptop chip.

This would also suggest that the upcoming Arrow Lake-HX CPUs which utilize the same die as the desktop SKUs will max out at 14 cores and 20 threads and have the same marketing issues as the desktop lineup. Arrow Lake is expected to feature a big performance upgrade with its Lion Cove P-Cores and Skymont E-Cores but would it be enough to necessitate a drop in core counts?

Previously expected SKUs within the Meteor Lake-S and Arrow Lake-S lineup would have looked something like the following:

MTL-S 22 (6P + 16E)/ 4 Xe Cores / 125W TDPMTL-S 22 (6P + 16E)/ 4 Xe Cores / 65W TDPMTL-S 22 (6P + 16E)/ 4 Xe Cores / 35W TDPMTL-S 14 (6P + 8E)/ 4 Xe Cores / 65WTDPMTL-S 14 (6P + 8E)/ 4 Xe Cores / 35WTDPArrow Lake-S 24 (8P + 16E)/ 4 Xe Cores / 125W TDPArrow Lake-S 24 (8P + 16E)/ 4 Xe Cores / 65W TDPArrow Lake-S 24 (8P + 16E)/ 4 Xe Cores / 35W TDP

Well, what we can see is a lot of what we are stating in this post is a rumor for now and Intel has a Vision event planned for this month where they can reveal more information on the client & more specifically, the desktop side of things. A lot is changing at Intel such as a new branding for the Core CPU lineup starting with the Meteor Lake chips (for laptops) so definitely be ready for lots of key & new announcements.

Intel Desktop CPU Core Count Progression: