Intel Core i Processors Will End After Meteor Lake Core Ultra CPUs

As part of the introduction of new Meteor Lake processors, Intel plans to make serious changes to its CPU brand. According to the first benchmarks and official statements, the “Core i” era should end this year and the “Core Ultra” chips will take over.

Rumors about new processor names boiled up at the end of April after a previously unknown Intel Core Ultra 5 1003H appeared in the benchmark database for the real-time strategy game Ashes of the Singularity. Now Intel is heating up the speculation itself. Bernard Fernandes, Global Communications Director at Intel, addresses the press and customers via Twitter.

“Yes, we are making changes to our branding as we are at an inflection point in our customer roadmap and as we prepare for the upcoming launch of our Meteor Lake processors. We will be sharing more details on these exciting changes in the coming weeks! “Said Fernandes.

Official confirmation of the new name is still pending, but experts are already reading it between the lines of the spokesman. The “Core i” brand has been around since 2008 and is now known for its four performance classes: Core i3, i5, i7, and i9. According to the leaked benchmarks, these could be advertised as Intel Core Ultra 3, Ultra 5, Ultra 7, and Ultra 9 in the future. The “Core i” chips should then take a place on Intel’s bench along with the Pentium and Celeron.

The upcoming high-end dry spell at Intel

The launch of new Meteor Lake processors is expected during the second half of 2023. There is currently the talk of 65-watt CPUs, which should initially be placed in the middle class alongside a Raptor Lake refresh (Core i-13000). Intel is only expected to launch completely new high-end processors with up to 125 watts with Arrow Lake from 2024. It remains to be seen whether AMD will take advantage of this competitor’s dry spell.