As we await budget Arrow Lake chips next year, Intel China has initiated pre-orders for these processors ahead of their global rollout. The official account of Intel Consumer Products on Weibo announced JD as its partner for the pre-sale event, starting tonight with shipping scheduled for January 13, aligning these processors for a CES unveil. This is slightly unusual since Intel's launch procedures typically involve unveiling a given processor series, followed by retail availability once the set embargo date lifts. While this could be a small inadvertent error at Intel's end, it gives us some insight as to what CPUs are launching next month.
Although the Weibo post doesn't mention non-K CPUs, the release window suggests they're the target. Moreover, a quick look over the shared JD retail link spells out the following SKUs: Core Ultra 5 225F, Core Ultra 5 230F, Core Ultra 7 265F, Core Ultra 7 265, and Core Ultra 9 285. When compared against previous leaks, JD is missing a few SKUs but they'll likely surface when pre-orders go live. The pre-sale is expected to start at 22:00 in China tonight with deliveries slated for two weeks later on the evening of January 13.
