Intel’s Project Firefly targets cheaper Wildcat Lake laptops using phone supply chain
Project Firefly appears to be Intel’s latest push to make Wildcat Lake laptops cheaper to build at scale.
According to Golden Pig Upgrade Pack, Project Firefly is aimed at cheaper laptops based on Intel’s Core Series 3 processors. The idea is to borrow more from China’s mature mobile phone supply chain and use a standard interface that can be reused across more designs.
This is why Project Firefly appears to be more about manufacturing than raw CPU performance. Intel is apparently looking at phone-derived components, small adapter boards and a more standardized barebone design that could be easier for laptop makers to adopt.
Sam Gao (Intel executive in the Client Computing Group) showed an A+ reference design based on Project Firefly. The laptop reportedly has a “Clean D” design and an 11.x mm chassis, so this is still a thin reference design, not just a basic low-cost laptop.
Source: Intel (translated)
Wildcat Lake is already aimed at lower-cost systems. Intel’s official Core 5 320 specifications confirm single-channel memory, with support for LPDDR5X-7467 or DDR5-6400. The same chip also has a small 2 Xe-core integrated GPU, a 15W base power and a 35W maximum turbo power.
Single-channel memory, faster LPDDR5X
The single-channel memory design remains one of the main concerns around Wildcat Lake. Some users compared it with older Alder Lake-N laptops, which were often paired with slower DDR4 memory and were criticized for poor responsiveness in low-cost systems.
The difference is that Wildcat Lake can use LPDDR5X-7467 memory, which should help bandwidth compared with many older entry-level laptops. This still does not make it a high-end platform, but it may give OEMs more room to build thin and cheap Windows laptops without repeating the weakest parts of earlier budget designs.
Source: Golden Pig Upgrade
The first Wildcat Lake laptops are already appearing in China. Today we covered Honor, ASUS and HP models using Core 5 320, with 16GB memory and 512GB storage in early listings. CHUWI has also introduced the UniBook at $449, although that model cuts memory to 8GB.
According to Golen Pig Upgrade, the first laptop to be part of the Firefly project will be Lenovo’s Lecoo Air 14 laptop.
Source: Golden Pig Upgrade
