Intel Lunar Lake CPUs have received their first support in Linux patches which shows that the blue team has started the initial development of its next-generation chips. The Lunar Lake lineup will be launching around 2023-2024 so there's still some time before we get to hear any concrete details about the lineup.
Intel Next-Gen Lunar Lake CPUs Get First Support In Linux Patches, Expected To Feature Brand New Cores & Launch Around 2023
The support page was spotted by Coelacanth's Dream (via Osuosi / Videocardz). The patch adds support for Intel Lunar Lake CPUs on the Ethernet e1000e network driver (Gigabyte NIC for Linux and Virtual Systems). The Lunar Lake is clearly listed as a next-gen Client Platform which confirms that it will be launching for both desktop and mobility segments. Other than that, there's not much that we can decipher from the support page.
From previous information, we know that Intel's Lunar Lake CPU family will be replacing Meteor Lake around 2023-20224. But there are also reports of an intermediary Alder Lake refresh lineup rumored to be known as Raptor Lake. This lineup is essentially going to be a refresh of Alder Lake and launch sometime in 2022, reports AdoredTV.
It is also reported that Meteor Lake might get shelved for desktops and replaced by Raptor Lake, leaving the former to be a mobility-only family. There is also speculation that Raptor Lake might be using the 7nm Ocean Cove cores though that seems unlikely. So far, Intel's patches have only listed Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake CPUs after Alder Lake so all of this is just a rumor for now and we have to wait a bit for more sources to confirm if this is the case or not.
Intel Mainstream CPU Generations Comparison:
| Intel CPU Family | Processor Process | Processor Architecture | Graphics Architecture | Processors Cores/Threads (Max) | Platform | Memory Support | PCIe Support | Launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alder Lake (12th Gen) | Intel 7 | Golden Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 16/24 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2021 |
| Raptor Lake (13th Gen) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2022 |
| Raptor Lake Refresh (TBA) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2023 |
| Meteor Lake | Intel 4 | Redwood Cove (P-Core) Crestmont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 22/28 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake | Intel 20A | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 24/32 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake Refresh (Canceled) | Intel 20A | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | TBD | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2025 |
| Lunar Lake | Intel 18A | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe2 (Battlemage) | 8/8? | LGA 1851? | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0? | 2024 |
| Panther Lake (TBA) | Intel 18A | Cougar Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe3 (Celestial) | TBD | LGA 1851? | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 6.0? | 2025 |
| Nova Lake (TBA) | TBA | Coyote Cove (P-Core) Arctic Wolf (E-Core) | TBA | TBA | TBA | DDR5? | PCIe Gen 6.0? | 2026 |
| Razer Lake (TBA) | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 2027? |
Intel Lunar Lake Post-7nm? Desktop CPUs With Next-Gen Cores
Lastly, we have the Intel Lunar Lake family which is expected to launch around 2023-2024 and was just recently spotted in graphics drivers. The Lunar Lake CPUs will most likely replace the Meteor Lake lineup and hence fall in Intel's 14th Gen branding unless Intel decides to change that by then since we are talking at least two or three years from now (2022-2023).
What's interesting is that Lunar Lake is listed with Gen 12.9 graphics. This suggests that we are looking at a refined variant of the Gen 12 architecture rather than Gen 13 since that starts with the other two products that we will talk about here. Alder Lake Desktop CPUs are listed with 12.2 & Meteor Lake is the latest with 12.722 Generation codenames.
There's no telling if Intel will still be supporting its LGA 1700 platform by the time Lunar Lake is launched. Currently, Intel has kept socket and platform compatibility alive for at least two CPU generations but that might change in the future due to increased competition from AMD and its Ryzen (AM5) platform.
