Intel has confirmed that they will be rebranding their processor lineup for the upcoming 14th-Gen CPUs. By the way, here’s everything we know about the Intel 14th-Gen Meteor Lake CPU lineup so far, including all leaked and confirmed details. They say that Meteor Lake is an ‘inflection point’ for their manufacturing, architecture, and design and that the newer-gen CPUs deliver significant advantages. Even AMD changed the naming scheme for its Ryzen mobile CPU lineup earlier last year. That said, here’s everything you need to know about Intel’s switch to the new Ultra and Core branding.
Intel’s Most Significant Brand Update in 15 Years
This rebranding will be the most drastic so far, with Intel aiming to further simplify the brand’s naming scheme for the desktop & laptop CPU offerings. Firstly, the most important change is that Intel is dropping the “i” from their processor naming scheme, and so the product names will now simply be classified under Core 3, Core 5, Core 7, and Core 9.
This new change will be reflected in the processor’s badge as well, like the Intel stickers placed on laptops or desktop CPU packaging. The generation of the processor & its model number will still be called out at the end. Below is an example of how the current branding works, versus the new branding (for a mainstream Core i7 processor):
Previous Branding New Branding Intel Core i7 Processor ##### H/HX/U/P Intel Core 7 Processor ##xx*
*Final processor numbering yet to be decided
Similarly, other processors (such as the Core i3/i5/i7) will accordingly receive the same change, with the “i” being dropped from their names. Next, they will have a two-tiered approach to their product classification strategy. This way, Intel is able to separate the leadership and mainstream offerings of its products.
The leadership class will be named Core Ultra, with the mainstream lineup simply being called Core. So, the processor would be called along the lines of “Intel Core Ultra 7 processor ##xx*“. Intel is also updating the look of its branding across the board (including the Evo & vPro Enterprise badges), and here is the new look:
The Core Ultra variants of Intel’s 14th Gen CPUs have a deeper blue-colored badge, signifying the upgrade over the basic variant. This rebranding is a significant move by Intel. They aim to completely shift away from using the generation number in front of the ‘Intel Core’ brand name, and they’re dropping the “i” so that the major shift to a brand-new architecture is signified effectively amongst the customers. They also mentioned that Intel Arc graphics can be paired with both Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra processors.
This new naming scheme begins for all Intel products that will be released in the future, starting with the Meteor Lake 14th Gen processors later this year. So, what do you think of the new ‘Core’ and ‘Ultra’ Intel CPU naming scheme? Do you plan on purchasing the Meteor Lake CPUs? Let us know in the comments below.
