Intel denies Lunar Lake laptop chip delay but reports say Arrow Lake could actually go on sale first

Last week, reports emerged that Intel's Lunar Lake had been delayed. Now Intel has responded, claiming that the new mobile chip remains on schedule. Meanwhile, Intel's next desktop CPU, Arrow Lake, will reportedly go on sale in October. Could it actually beat Lunar Lake to market?

Speaking to Digitimes (via Benchlife), the chip giant said, «Intel's upcoming client processor (code-named Lunar Lake) has not been delayed. As disclosed earlier, Lunar Lake-based systems will start shipping in Q3 for the Holiday Season.»

So, has Lunar Lake been delayed or not? Part of the confusion may relate to the distinction between shipping the chips themselves and the availability of fully built devices, in this case typically laptops, powered by Lunar Lake.

Obviously, Intel will begin shipping Lunar Lake chips to laptop makers some time before those final devices hit the shops or are sent to end users. Moreover, when Intel announced Lunar Lake at the recent Computex show, it didn't release full branding or a list of SKUs.

AMD very much did do that for its own new Strix Point chip for laptops and also that laptops with Strix point would be available from July. Broadly, it was pretty obvious that Lunar Lake would be available after Strix Point even if the precise date wasn't clear.

But vagueness from Intel is also playing a role in all this. For starters, Intel's statement, «systems will start shipping in Q3» leaves a little space for wiggle room. Q3 runs to the end of September. However, «shipping» systems isn't the same as actual retail availability.

Moreover, Intel's statement also said «for the Holiday Season». In other words, Intel is claiming laptops with the chips will begin shipping from manufacturers by the end of September with a view to retail availability in late November.

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Actually, it isn't quite that simple. The Holiday season runs from late November into January, so