Although it's well known that Intel's 22nm Haswell architecture will replace Ivy Bridge-based Core i3, i5 and i7 chips sometime next year, new details have surfaced about the release plans for the company's lower tier brands. Industry sources cited by DigiTimes claim to have it on good authority that Intel will upgrade its 32nm Sandy Bridge-based Pentium and Celeron chips to 22nm Ivy Bridge versions by early 2013.
The existing Pentium G870, G645 and G645T as well as the Celeron G555, G550 and G550T will be phased out starting at the end of the year to make way for the new Pentium G2130, G2020 and G2020T and Celeron G1620, G1610 and G1610T processors. Additionally, the sources note that orders for the Core i7-2700K, Core i5-3450, Core i5-2310, Core i3-2105 and Pentium G440 will stop by the end of this year.
On the mobile front, Intel reportedly plans to ship several Ivy Bridge-based dual-core chips in the first quarter of 2013, including the Core i7-3687, Core i5-3437U, Celeron 1037U, 1007U, 1020M and 1000M, while Haswell parts will begin surfacing in the third quarter of the years. The company also intends to axe the single-core Celeron 807 and B730, though DigiTimes didn't mention an exact timeframe for this move.
Sandy Bridge chips still account for 60% of Intel's desktop processor shipments, while Ivy Bridge parts make up 34%. The remaining slice is split between Atom components (4%) and Sandy Bridge E chips (6%). Those figures will be shaken up when the new Pentium and Celeron CPUs arrive early next year, giving Ivy Bridge about three quarters of the share, with the last quarter shared by Sandy Bridge, Atom and Haswell.