Intel confirms Gen 9 Core H series for Q2 2019, but remains mum on details

Last year's 8th gen Coffee Lake-H series for laptops was met with almost nothing but praise. The Core i5-8300H and i7-8750H in particular proved to be huge upgrades over the 7th gen Kaby Lake-H Core i5-7300HQ and i7-7700HQ, respectively. Now that we're already a quarter of the way through 2019, gamers have been wondering when the eventual launch of the 9th gen Core series will be. Intel has confirmed at GDC 2019 that the mobile 9th gen H-series is still on schedule for a launch this Summer.

Other than the vague release window statement, however, the chipmaker was surprisingly short on details during the reveal. Although Intel is promising performance upticks of 10 to 11 percent on certain titles like World of Tanks and Hitman 2 with new WiFi 6 chipsets, Optane Memory H10 options, and integrated Thunderbolt 3, actual SKUs across the Core i3, i5, i7, and i9 lineup remain a mystery. We suppose Intel may be simply waiting on OEMs before showing off any final laptop designs sporting the new family of processors.

We certainly know from CES 2019 that at least one OEM is ready for gen 9 Intel CPUs. Lenovo has said that one of its Legion laptops will launch with the new processor as soon as it arrives and the rumored Core i7-9750H has already made an unconfirmed appearance. Looks like we'll just have to wait a bit longer for the official specifications.