Intel confirms that Meteor Lake-S will be available on desktop platforms in 2024

Several months ago, recurring reports speculated on whether Intel had canceled the desktop version of Meteor Lake, known as Meteor Lake-S. With Intel’s announcement of a significant overhaul of the Core brand, bifurcating it into the new Intel Core Ultra for flagship offerings and the Intel Core processor brand for mainstream products, it was finally confirmed that the 14th generation Core processor would be Raptor Lake-S Refresh, seemingly settling all speculation.

Recently, Michelle Johnston Holthaus, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group (CCG), confirmed in an interview with PC World that Intel would launch Meteor Lake-S for the desktop platform in 2024. Contrary to outside speculation, Intel does not intend to separate the desktop and mobile platforms into two distinct architectures.

As the individual overseeing nearly all consumer-facing matters at Intel, Holthaus’s statement serves as a definitive stance. According to Intel’s timeline, Arrow Lake-S will be launched next year. Introducing Meteor Lake-S between Raptor Lake-S Refresh and Arrow Lake-S leaves one wondering about the product lineup’s specific arrangement.

There had been conjectures suggesting that Arrow Lake-S and Meteor Lake-S might be part of the same product lineup. Rumors suggested that Meteor Lake-S would only offer up to a Core i5 variant, with a maximum configuration of 6P+8E+2E, totaling 22 threads, with a corresponding TDP of merely 35W and 65W. This implies the absence of high-end models and enthusiast-focused K/KF products. In contrast, Arrow Lake-S TDPs cover 35W, 65W, and 125W, and will include the top-tier Core i9 model.

Last month, an enthusiast even shared what appeared to be a physical photograph of Meteor Lake-S, boasting a larger integrated heat spreader (IHS) than Raptor Lake-S, potentially suggesting compatibility with the next-generation LGA 1851 socket.