The official name for Intel's next-generation desktop platform and flagship chipset has been under wraps since Intel gave us a sneak peek at the platform (i.e., the LGA1851 motherboards) in Computex. A leak from HXL on X (Twitter) has confirmed that Intel's flagship series will take on the Core Ultra moniker similar to its Meteor Lake counterparts and confirmed the name of Intel's flagship chipset, Z890.
HXL shared a photograph of the motherboard of a next-generation Gigabyte Aorus series Z890 Aorus Pro ICE motherboard. The motherboard's new Z890 and Intel Core Ultra series nomenclature were stamped next to the CPU and memory slots.
Outgoing rumors and leaks have made it seem like the industry already knows the name of Intel's Arrow Lake-S processors and flagship chipset. Still, Intel has not officially announced any serious details about Arrow Lake, including things as simple as the processor nomenclature and chipset branding.
However, it wasn't hard to guess that Intel's next-generation platform would adopt the Core Ultra branding and the 800 series chipset moniker. When Intel officially introduced its new Core Ultra branding, it confirmed that the naming scheme would be here to stay and eventually replace Intel's outgoing Core i series moniker, which it has been using for over a decade.
Meteor Lake represented the transition point where Intel started to use the Core Ultra moniker, reserving it exclusively for Meteor Lake. Intel temporarily extended its Core i series nomenclature for the 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh lineup even though Meteor Lake and 14th Gen exist together—Meteor Lake is aimed at thin and light devices. At the same time, Raptor Lake Refresh was targeted at high-performance solutions (from desktops to gaming laptops).
The same can be said of Intel's chipset branding; leaks surrounding LGA1851 motherboard model names have already pointed towards Z890 as the flagship name.
Previous leaks claim that Z890 will be a noteworthy upgrade over Z790, providing integrated Thunderbolt 4 support, thanks to Thunderbolt 4 controller integration from Arrow Lake CPUs. Z890 is also rumored to come with four additional lanes of PCIe 5 storage for dedicated M.2 SSDs and a secondary PCIe 4.0 x 4 interface for a second M.2 drive. Rumors also stated that Intel will adopt the "200" moniker for Arrow Lake-S, featuring a triple-digit numbering scheme rather than the five we have today. The flagship Arrow Lake-S part is cited as being called the Core Ultra 9 285K.
