Unlocked Intel 9th generation Core i5, i7 and i9 CPUs will debut on 1 October

A lot has changed for Intel these last few years. Rival AMD finally offers  **killer competitor in the form of Ryzen** and Intel’s struggles with producing a viable 10 nm chip (a more efficient design) has device makers now exploring alternatives. While competition is now breathing down its neck, Intel’s vast lead in CPU design still means that it can slap together CPU parts that manage to stay ahead, but only just. AMD’s sudden resurgence in the mainstream CPU market has seen Intel scramble to patch together whatever CPUs they can, resulting in the unexpected windfall in the form of the stellar 8th generation CPUs. With Intel’s 10 nm chips pushed to late 2019, where does Intel go from here, though? If the leaked information on the 9th generation Intel CPU line-up is anything to go by, Intel has once again bumped up the core count, and not only that, there’s also a significant bump to clock speeds. On the downside, Intel appears to have eliminated hyper-threading in everything but the most expensive Core i9 CPU. [caption id=“attachment_4815641” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Intel’s leaked 9th generation lineup. Image: WCCFTech[/caption] More details can be found here . A report in WCCFTech confirms that the new chips will arrive on 1 October, alongside brand new Z390-series motherboards. According to the report, only the unlocked K series CPUs will launch on 1st, with the rest scheduled for later. On the mobile devices front, there’s not much news. Intel’s 8th gen mobile CPUs are still rolling out anyway, and until 10 nm arrives, there’s not much exciting that can happen on that front. The 10 nm process refers to a manufacturing process where the smallest feature on a chip, like a CPU, is 10 nm wide. The smaller the process, the more efficient the feature, resulting in chips that consume less power and produce less heat. In mobile devices, this means that your device won’t heat up as much and the battery life will be better. On desktops, where neither heat nor battery life is a major concern, this means that devices can run much faster. While Intel is still on a 14 nm process, AMD is on 12 nm and is expected to hit 7 nm by next year. The chips that power smartphones, includes Apple’s A-series chips and Qualcomm’s high-end chips are already available on the 10 nm process.