Intel Confirms Arrow Lake Refresh but Admits Gap with Ryzen Remains

Intel’s Arrow Lake processors, launched in 2024, have struggled in the market against AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series, especially in gaming performance. In response, Intel plans a mid-cycle update called Arrow Lake Refresh to strengthen its lineup before the arrival of the next-generation Nova Lake series.

Official Confirmation from Intel CFO

At the 2025 Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications conference hosted by Citi, Intel CFO David Zinsner publicly confirmed the existence of Arrow Lake Refresh during a Q&A session. He acknowledged challenges in competing in client CPU segments and referred to a forthcoming “second phase” of Arrow Lake, widely interpreted as this Refresh model.

Performance Gains but Ryzen Lead Persists

Zinsner refrained from promising major performance breakthroughs with Arrow Lake Refresh, emphasizing that a significant turnaround would come only with Nova Lake. The Refresh is expected to feature higher clock speeds on CPU cores, D2D, and Ring Bus elements rather than architectural changes. These improvements could notably boost gaming capabilities, potentially matching Intel’s current high-end Core i9-14900K, but still fall short versus AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

Further complications include uncertainty over future socket support, as Nova Lake—and presumably Arrow Lake Refresh—may not support the upcoming LGA 1851, possibly limiting Intel’s competitiveness.

Looking Forward

Intel’s CFO admitted that competing head-to-head with AMD remains challenging, even after the Refresh. However, pricing strategies and market positioning could still make Arrow Lake Refresh appealing to certain consumers. Industry watchers will be closely watching how Intel markets and positions this incremental upgrade ahead of the more significant Nova Lake launch.