Intel has evidently been rattled by the impending launch of AMD's "Renoir" Ryzen 4000 mobile parts. Earlier rumours indicated that Comet Lake H parts may be arriving earlier than expected to counter the Ryzen 4000 launch.
Today, though, tipster @TUM_APISAK was spotted sharing something even more interesting: Intel might be upping the core count across the board on Comet Lake H. An alleged Comet Lake H i5-10500H was spotted on 3DMark with 6 cores. What’s surprising is that the listing mentions the CPU having 8 threads. This is likely an erroneous listing, but if it’s true, it could mean that the i5-10500 is the world’s first 6-core, 8-thread processor. The alleged i5-10500H features a stock clock of 2.5 GHz, according to 3DMark. We expect the typical all-core boost to be in the mid-3 GHz range, though.
The i5-10500H would offer performance that's nearly on par with the i7-10750H, a 6 core 12 thread part. But what exactly will the i5-10500H be up against, though? Direct competition will come from the Ryzen 5 4600H, a 6-core 12-thread 7nm part.
Considering that the Ryzen 4600H isn't far behind in terms of IPC, the Comet Lake i5-10500H's performance relative to it will largely be determined by sustained all-core clocks. The Ryzen 7 4800H, with 8 cores and 16 threads will almost certain demolish the i5-10500H, though it'll likely cost a good bit more, too.
Details (and official confirmation) for the i5-10500H are thin on the ground for now. We'll update you as soon as we hear more.