Intel's Skylake architecture just recently turned two years old, making it over-the-hill in technology years. It is no surprise, then, that Intel is retiring Skylake as it pushes newer processor lines, including Kaby Lake and sometime soon, Coffee Lake (on the desktop).
Credit goes to ComputerBase for first noticing the discontinuation. When we inquired the source of the claim, the site pointed us to Intel's most recent Product Change Notification (PDF), which lists several original Skylake CPUs being forced into retirement. They include the following sixth generation Core processors:
- Core i7-6700K
- Core i5-6600K
- Core i5-6402P
- Core i3-6098P
The PCN applies to both retail boxed and OEM processors. However, being discontinued does not mean these CPUs will disappear from the marketplace. Intel will still accept orders from vendors and system builders until the end of March 2018, with final shipments taking place in September 2018.
This slow discontinuation process gives the market plenty of time to adjust. When the final shipments go out, Skylake will be three years old, and Intel's 10nm Cannon Lake processors will likely have already launched.
You can also expect to see less Skylake systems as time goes on. Even though Intel is still accepting orders, OEM system builders tend to stay current. That said, the product discontinuance could lead to some interesting Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in a couple of months, so stay tuned.
