Intel has confirmed its plans to release the long-rumoured Arrow Lake Refresh next year, with Nova Lake arriving later in the same year. While one series of processors are undoubtedly more exciting than the other, we can expect a barrage of chips from Team Blue in 2026.
During the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference, Intel officially unveiled its plan to release an Arrow Lake Refresh lineup next year. The brand’s VP of Corporate Relations, John Pitzer, said that this refresh is expected in the first half of the year, probably early, to separate it from next-gen Nova Lake. However, some models may be pushed to 2027.
“We’ve got a couple of holes we’ve got to fill on the desktop front. But quite frankly, we feel confident in the roadmap. We’ll have a refresh of Arrow Lake next year, which will help start the process on the desktop side. And then we’ll conclude that with Nova Lake when we launch late next year into 2027.” Said John Pitzer.
Arrow Lake Refresh will be available on existing LGA1851 platforms, powered by the Z890, B860, and H810 chipsets. Rumours claim this intermediary generation won’t bring anything substantial, mainly some frequency boosts and AI enhancements. Others claim that Intel will only produce K and KF variants for enthusiasts, which is also plausible since the Core Ultra 200 series already covers the mid and budget tiers.
Unlike Arrow Lake Refresh, Nova Lake will mark a huge shift in Intel’s consumer CPU designs, breaking free for the first time from the 8 P-core ceiling. Built on the brand’s 18A node, this generation is expected to offer up to 52 cores in total, split into 16 P-cores, 32 E-cores, plus 4 LP-cores. Since Arrow Lake Refresh will likely take the Core Ultra 300 naming, Nova Lake should logically slot as the Core Ultra 400 series – requiring the upcoming LGA1954 socket.
