- Intel’s Arrow Lake Refresh is rumored for the second half of 2025
- These desktop CPUs supposedly come with a much more powerful NPU
- This will allow them to use Copilot+ features for the first time on the desktop – but gamers will be less than impressed, no doubt
Intel’s Arrow Lake Refresh processors, which are rumored to be the next desktop CPUs from Team Blue arriving later in 2025, may come with a surprise twist – a focus on pepping up AI.
The Verge picked up an article from ZDNet Korea (translated) which claims that the main thrust of Arrow Lake Refresh will be a new NPU, and that the GPU and processor cores will remain the same as existing Arrow Lake chips.
The NPU being drafted over for the next-gen desktop CPUs is said to be the one included with Lunar Lake laptop CPUs. The only other change will be ‘slightly’ higher clock speeds for Arrow Lake Refresh, we’re told.
Currently, Arrow Lake desktop chips do have an NPU, but it’s too weak to accelerate Copilot+ features (like AI-powered Windows search, as well as the divisive snapshot-based Recall ability, and a good few other tricks besides).
With the Lunar Lake NPU on board – those notebook processors are currently used for Copilot+ laptops – desktop computers with Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs would be able to fully access those same AI powers.
Analysis: A new target for Arrow Lake?
A switch like this to focus on AI would be a pretty radical move, bringing Copilot+-exclusive features to the world of desktop PCs for the first time.
What we must remember, though, is that this is (potentially) happening against a backdrop of Arrow Lake very much disappointing gamers. Indeed, as the ZDNet article points out, the previous generation of desktop silicon (Raptor Lake Refresh) has been outselling Arrow Lake by three-to-one in Korea.
Given that fact – coupled with the failed attempts to hone Arrow Lake to be meaningfully better for gaming via BIOS patches since the chips launched – if Intel is set to deploy a refresh of these CPUs in 2025 (which isn’t confirmed, I should note), the company may feel that gaming is at this point a lost cause (effectively).
So, in that light, a radical change such as a focus on supercharging the NPU – delivering measurable benefits for desktop PCs in terms of those Windows 11 features locked behind an ‘AI-wall’ as it were – might seem like an avenue worth exploring.
I’m not convinced about this, mind, and I’ll be waiting for other sources on the grapevine to back this up before I start to feel more persuaded that this is the direction Intel is heading in. After all, the existence of Arrow Lake Refresh itself has been a somewhat controversial topic in the past: first, it was on, then Intel was rumored to cancel the chips, and more recently, we were told this refresh is, in fact, still happening. Skepticism aplenty is required, in short.
If this does pan out, it’s worth noting that gamers aren’t getting nothing – faster clock speeds will help eke out some more frames per second, for sure. Although the way it’s couched as only ‘slightly’ faster clocks doesn’t sound too promising in terms of there being a decent uplift – and it’s doubtful there’s much room for that, anyway.
The release timeframe for Arrow Lake Refresh is supposedly the second half of the year, but given this rumor – which is a weighty piece of speculation – only popping up now, this indicates a case of later, rather than sooner, in H2 2025, I’m guessing.
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