Intel 12th Gen "Alder Lake" Mobile CPUs Face Retirement, HX-series Spared

[T0@st]

Intel product change notification documents—published on January 6—have revealed the planned "End of Life" (EOL) phasing out of 12th Generation "Alder Lake" mobile processor models. Tom's Hardware has pored over the listed products/SKUs and concluded that the vast majority of Team Blue's mobile-oriented Alder Lake selection are destined for retirement. Team Blue's HX series is being kept alive for a little while longer. Two documents show differing "discontinuance timelines" for their respective inventories—including lower-end Celeron and Pentium Gold SKUs, as well as familiar higher-up Core i3, i5, i7, and i9 families. U, P, H and HK-affixed models are lined up for the chopping block.

Intel's 13th Generation "Raptor Lake" mobile processor selection—comprised of Core 100 (series 1) and Core 200 (series 2)—offers similar silicon makeup. Many equivalent alternatives to older generation "Alder Lake" chips reside here—Tom's Hardware presented a key example: "i5-1235U, which is designated for thin and lightweight laptops. OEMs can instead opt for the i5-1335U, the Core 5 120U, or the Core 5 220U, as they're just better bins of the 1235U on the same FCBGA1744 socket." A significant number of Alder Lake mobile SKUs will be available to OEMs for ordering up until 26 April, with final shipments heading out on 25 October. The rest have been assigned a July 25 order cut-off date, with final shipments scheduled on 26 January 2026.



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[user556]

Meanwhile, the desktop retail 12400F (No functioning E-cores) is still the top selling Intel part - The only Intel model to consistently land somewhere in the top ten sales. As it has been for multiple years now.

 

[freeagent]

I was just thinking, I mean it makes sense for them to do it, but at the same time why take away the good chips and leave the defective one on the market?

Unless not all of them were defective, but I was under the impression that they were all defective, 13th and 14th gens.

 

[JcRabbit]

I was just thinking, I mean it makes sense for them to do it, but at the same time why take away the good chips and leave the defective one on the market?

Unless not all of them were defective, but I was under the impression that they were all defective, 13th and 14th gens.

You answered your own question - makes sense for them to do it. Take away all the good chips, people are left with no option but to buy the bad chips (or none at all and go AMD). And yes, all 13th and 14th gen chips are prone do degradation - I would not be surprised if years from now we learn that the latest microcode updates only delayed the inevitable, not prevented it.

 

[bug]

Intel 12th Gen "Alder Lake" Mobile CPUs Face Retirement

A significant number of Alder Lake mobile SKUs will be available to OEMs for ordering up until 26 April, with final shipments heading out on 25 October. The rest have been assigned a July 25 order cut-off date, with final shipments scheduled on 26 January 2026.

"Face retirement" now means being available for at least another year. Noted.

 

[freeagent]

You answered your own question - makes sense for them to do it.

I actually didn't, I misread the thread title.

 

[Vayra86]

You answered your own question - makes sense for them to do it. Take away all the good chips, people are left with no option but to buy the bad chips (or none at all and go AMD). And yes, all 13th and 14th gen chips are prone do degradation - I would not be surprised if years from now we learn that the latest microcode updates only delayed the inevitable, not prevented it.

Yep. I'm not touching any Intel CPU for the next five years at least. They're all suspect. There is no conclusive proof. Not even a new node and product is real proof. The only possible proof is simply building trust this never happens again, an affair that simply takes time. The market, the node and the situation for Intel isn't getting easier either, so that will certainly bring new dilemma's to their table.