A new leak of Intel’s (News - Alert) silicon schedule shows that the chipmaker is ticking along on its planned introduction of the high-end architecture codenamed Skylake, with Celeron, Pentium and other versions ready before the end of the year. And it looks to represent a step-change in performance levels.
In February it was revealed that Intel’s roadmap was coalescing around twin pieces of development: The Broadwell line, and the higher-performing Skylake portfolio. Broadwell is set to dominate, but Skylake is now targeted for introduction in the fourth quarter.
Pentium and Celeron processors based on Broadwell were introduced in the first quarter. And according to Fudzilla, Skylake processors will start showing up in Q4 2015, including Celeron, Pentium, Core M, Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 products.
Meanwhile, in about 18 months, Intel 10nm processors, codenamed Cannonlake, will start to make their appearance.
Silicon replacement cycles are beholden to the launches of devices that use the processors, and between Broadwell and Skylake, consumer electronics manufacturers will have a range of processor upgrade choices (and price ranges). But WCCFtech.com reported that the difference between Broadwell and Skylake in terms of performance will be a big jump, which could dictate device development as well.
“The uArch jump from Broadwell to Skylake will be as significant as the jump from the Pentium 4 (Precott) to the Core 2 (Conroe),” the tech outlet explained. “I must say anticipation for Skylake is at an all-time high, so let’s hope Intel doesn’t concentrate primarily on the mobile platform and forget the actual audience of high end CPUs: the desktop users.”
That’s unlikely — taking a look across the development plans, high-end, all-in-one desktops will remain a primary focus for the chipmaker, through at least the first quarter of 2016. But Ultrabooks and ultra-portable and mobile devices will be at the forefront as well.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson