Intel confirms planned branding changes – Is the Core i series finished?

Intel’s classic Core i-series branding may be making way for something “Ultra”

Intel’s director of global communications, Bernard Fernandes, has taken to Twitter to confirm that the CPU giant plans to enact some major branding changes later this year with the arrival of Meteor Lake, Intel’s next-generation client CPU architecture. This confirmation follows rumours that Intel may be planning to drop their classic i-series branding, which could mean that Meteor Lake will have no i3, i5, i7, or i9 series processors. 

In his statement, Fernandes stated that Meteor Lake represented an “inflection point” in Intel’s client CPU roadmap, and that the company plans to release more details on these “exciting changes” over the coming weeks. 

Intel’s i-series branding is famous, and consumers are used to seeing this branding and know what it means. Moving away from this branding is a dangerous move, as Intel risks losing some of its brand recognition with its move away from its Core i-series branding. Yes, Meteor Lake’s chiplet-based architecture is a big change for Intel, but will there be enough of a performance leap for Intel to be able to justify a larger branding change?

Below we can see a benchmark listing that features an Intel “Ultra” 5 mobile processor, the CPU that started the rumour that Intel may be planning to abandon their classic Core i-series branding. 

Intel’s Core i-series branding started in 2008, with the launch of their Core family of processors with i3, i5, and i7 tiers. Later, Intel added their i9 tier and today Intel’s flagship desktop processor is their Intel 13th Generation Core i9-13900K. With 13 CPU generations under its belt, perhaps it is time for Intel to retire its Core i-series branding. 

You can join the discussion on Intel potentially dripping their Core i-series branding on the OC3D Forums.