Intel has now officially shot down the rumors about the flagship SKU from its Arrow Lake Refresh lineup, as it has confirmed that the Core Ultra 9 290K won’t be released.
Back when the rumors started, everyone was expecting three SKUs, covering the entire range, including the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, and the flagship Core Ultra 9 290K Plus. Unfortunately, as Intel only released the Core Ultra 5 and the Core Ultra 7 SKUs, there was already some doubt that we could see a flagship SKU with the Plus moniker.
According to a comment to PC Games Hardware from Intel Germany Tech Communication Manager, Florian Maislinger, Intel is focusing on just these two SKUs, and that the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus SKU with 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores will be the flagship SKU.
Intel is excited to deliver exceptional value with our Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus series processors. The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus are positioned to deliver outstanding gaming performance and incredible value compared to our competition. Our objective was to maximize performance for the desktop SKUs that are most widely available. As a result, Intel is not launching a U9 290K Plus SKU. – Florian Maislinger, Tech Communication Manager, Intel Germany
