Intel has a fight on its hands to maintain global CPU supremacy, but it remains the go-to company for now.
According to Mercury Research (via Reuters), the US firm accounted for an estimated 68.7% of the most popular x86 chip market in Q4 of 2022. However, rival AMD has steadily grown to 31.3%, while ARM-based Apple and Qualcomm chips continue to become more popular.
Despite this, it’s likely that your next laptop or PC will be powered by Intel. So, what is the company doing next? Unsurprisingly, 14th-gen Meteor Lake processors are on the way, but rumours suggest they might be limited to mobile CPUs. Here’s everything we know so far.
Intel Meteor Lake release date
Intel has confirmed a rough release window for the first 14th-gen CPUs, but it’s nothing more specific than 2023.
However, a June 2022 YouTube video from ‘Moore’s Law is Dead’ (via Wccftech) suggests Meteor Lake chips could debut as early as Q2 or Q3 of 2023 – that’s anytime between April and September.
These will supposedly be for laptop chips, before the first desktop ones arrive in Q4. However, the latter may never materialise if the rumours (below) of no desktop chips turn out to be true.
As for a more specific launch date, Intel usually debuts its new CPUs at the company’s Innovation event. That’s where we saw the first Raptor Lake processors in late September 2022, before lots more arrived in January at CES 2023.
A similar timeframe is possible for Meteor Lake, but by no means guaranteed.
However, in August 2022, Intel was forced to deny that all consumer-focused chips will be delayed until 2024. As The Verge reported, there were plenty of earlier rumours suggesting Meteor Lake is behind schedule.
But Intel insisted that not only will the first Alder Lake CPUs launch in 2023, they’ll be available to purchase before the end of the year.
Will Intel release Meteor Lake desktop and mobile chips?
Possibly not. Mobile chips for Windows laptops and tablets look to be on the agenda, but they might not be joined by desktop versions this time around.
In December 2022, regular Twitter leaker Raichu reported that Meteor Lake-S chips designed for desktops had been cancelled. A subsequent tweet from the same account suggests the same product will be used in a Meteor Lake-P laptop processor instead:
Around the same time as the tweet above, Jeremy Laird at PC Gamer described 15th-gen Arrow Lake as the ‘true desktop replacement’ for Raptor Lake – not Meteor Lake.
But if this turns out to be true, it’s nothing new for Intel. Neither Ice Lake (10th-gen) and Tiger Lake (11th-gen) included desktop CPUs, and that hasn’t affected the strength of two generations since.
Intel Meteor Lake pricing
Pricing is something few rumours are able to get a handle on, particularly when it’s just suggested figures for desktop CPUs that might never arrive.
But if Intel does decide to release standalone versions of Meteor Lake processors, they may be priced similarly to the current 13th-gen CPUs. Here’s how much you could expect to pay for Raptor Lake-K at launch:
- Core i9-13900KS – $699
- Core i9-13900K – $589
- Core i9-13900KF – $564
- Core i7-13700K – $409
- Core i7-13700KF – $384
- Core i5-13500K – $319
- Core i5-13500KF -$294
The global chip shortage has eased significantly, but high inflation in many countries around the world may still drive up prices.
But remember, Meteor Lake mobile CPUs won’t be available to buy as standalone components. They’ll be integrated into laptops and tablets than you then purchase, so how much the devices cost depends on a variety of factors.
Intel Meteor Lake spec rumours
The first source of Meteor Lake news is Intel itself. At the company’s 2022 Investor Day, it showed off the following roadmap:
Intel
The key takeaway here is the move to the Intel 4, which sees the company finally shift to a 7nm process. Intel 20A refers to a 5nm process, but it’s not expected until Arrow Lake in 2024.
In April 2022, AnandTech said that Meteor Lake will be the company’s first to use EUV (extreme ultraviolet lithography) in manufacturing, moving away from the current hybrid architecture.
There’ll still be the the mix of performance and efficiency cores, but this new chiplet design will supposedly allow processor components to be combined more easily (according to The Verge).
According to Twitter leaker Raichu, it’ll yield big gains to power efficiency, which should in turn benefit battery life:
A follow-up tweet suggests the new integrated GPU (a successor to the current Iris Xe) will deliver nearly 2x the performance as it currently does – according to clock speeds, anyway.
In a now private tweet (reported by VideoCardz.com), leaker TLC on Twitter revealed some details about what could be Meteor Lake-S desktop chips. This includes a total of 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes (16 for the GPU, four for storage) and an extra four from the new Z890 motherboard.
Versions with 6 performance/8 efficiency and 6 performance/16 efficiency are thought to exist, with an eight performance core version believed to be in the works too. There’s also mention of Windows 12, adding to the rumours that a major new version could be on the way soon.
Back in 2021, Wccftech suggested that Meteor Lake will use a brand new architecture known as Redwood Cove. This will be the successor to the current and will supposedly deliver ‘IPC and architectural improvements’.
Other key rumoured specs for Meteor Lake are revealed later in the article. These include the LGA 1700 platform and DDR5 memory, with author Hassan Mujtaba hinting at potential 800-series chips and PCIe Gen 5 support.
A June 2022 YouTube video from ‘Moore’s Law is Dead’ claims to leak several key Meteor Lake specs:
The video suggests we should also expect a new LGA 2551 socket, significant IPC increases compared to Raptor Lake and a new architecture to rival AMD’s Zen 4 for the desktop CPUs. However, some clock speed regressions are claimed, while the video was also unable to reveal any clock speeds.
We’ll update this article once we know more about Meteor Lake. If you’re in the market for new Intel CPUs right now, see our full guide to 13th-gen Raptor Lake chips.
