The two new Skylake chips debuting today are the vanguard of a full suite of sixth-generation processors coming later this year. Intel hasn’t yet described how it will launch the comprehensive hardware refresh, but given how recently Broadwell debuted in some markets, we would assume that Intel will push Skylake out on a similar cadence. That way Broadwell has enough time in market to move inventory and the company doesn’t end up stuck with chips it can’t sell.
Intel’s entire strategy around Skylake has been a little strange. When the company announced that Broadwell would launch up to a year late in some market segments, we assumed this would have an impact on Skylake’s launch schedule as well. It only made sense that Intel would hold its cadence timer steady, rather than rushing out a new launch on the heels of the old one. Instead, Intel did exactly that, opting to replace the older Haswell desktop parts rather than do a top-to-bottom refresh based on Broadwell.
At the time, this may have made sense, but it introduced an odd hiccup into Intel’s roadmap. The company recently announced that its 10nm ramp would be delayed by roughly a year, with a new interim product, Kaby Lake, brought forward to serve in the interim. The only thing Intel has done with the 10nm ramp is formalize the delay that characterized Broadwell rather than informing investors that it would happen mere months in advance, but the firm could’ve avoided the need for Kaby Lake if it had simply kept Skylake in the oven for a bit longer.