Intel will rebrand Core processors starting with Meteor Lake

[nanoguy]

In context: Intel has been trying to redefine its corporate identity with new company and product logos, and it looks like we'll soon see branding changes for its consumer-grade predecessors. The company says it's at "an inflection point in our client roadmap," implying its upcoming Meteor Lake CPUs are a significant step forward for Intel that requires a new product naming convention.

In 2020, Intel overhauled its corporate identity to make it look more fresh and youthful. The company introduced new trademarks as well as logos with a cleaner typeface and simple geometric backgrounds with color gradients. Last year, it killed Pentium and Celeron, two of its long-standing budget CPU brands. And like all branding changes, these were likely meant to indicate a mature company that isn't afraid to move beyond its rich legacy and reinvent itself.

This year, that visual rebranding is set to continue with Intel's Meteor Lake processors, though the company announced the move in a rather unusual way. After a series of leaked benchmarks for the new CPU architecture, Intel director of global communications Bernard Fernandes went on Twitter to confirm the company is gearing up for more brand changes to mark a new chapter in client computing tech for Team Blue.

Yes, we are making brand changes as we're at an inflection point in our client roadmap in preparation for the upcoming launch of our #MeteorLake processors. We will provide more details regarding these exciting changes in the coming weeks! #Intel

– Bernard Fernandes (@Bernard_P) May 1, 2023

The tweet doesn't address the leaks, but the timing coincides with rumors of a massive rebranding campaign after someone discovered an interesting product name in the Ashes of the Singularity benchmark database. The product in question is the "Core Ultra 5 1003H," presumably one of the upcoming Meteor Lake parts for laptops, with 18 cores and 18 logical threads as well as an unidentified Xe integrated GPU.

In the now-deleted entry of the AoTS database, we could see the "Core Ultra 5 1003H" processor achieve 1,300 points in the DirectX 11 version at 1080p. This suggests the sample is capable of a similar performance to that of the Core i7-12700 with a UHD Graphics 770 integrated GPU. The 14th-gen Meteor Lake CPU also appeared in the SiSoftware Sandra database as a 45-watt part equipped with an integrated GPU with 128 compute units.

As of writing this, the "Ultra" moniker is unconfirmed but it won't be long before we'll see if it is real or not and whether it applies to all Core processors moving forward or just a select few the company wants to promote as enthusiast grade hardware. Some are speculating Intel will completely replace the i3, i5, i7, and i9 naming with "Pro," "Max," and "Ultra" branding combined with product code numbers, but we'll have to wait and see.

Intel will hold its "Intel Vision" event on May 10-11, but that's where the company showcases software and security technologies. Computex kicks off on May 30 and that's where Team Blue usually makes hardware announcements, so we may hear more about the processor rebranding then.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/98523-intel-rebrand-core-processors-starting-meteor-lake.html

 

[DSirius]

I can give you more "insight" info.
Intel execs were in a hard dilemma. Some wanted to rebrand it as Intel Core Ultra High (kW power), others Intel Core Ultra Low (slow?). But share holders, which wanted to make the last call for satisfaction, decided to rebranded it as Intel Core Ultra LATÉ, exasperated by so many delays.

 

[antiproduct]

It'd be nice if the generation was more prominent when advertising laptop models. Some laptops are pretty upfront about what gen it is, some just say "it has a Intel Core i5" and no more information, so you gotta google the model and try to find that specific information somewhere. So Sure, name the next one Ultra, and maybe the one after that Mega, and then Super, and Super ultra.... whatever, just maybe let us know the generation. Like at least with Pentium it was 1, 2, 3, and volcano. So Ultra 1, then Ultra 2, 3, etc., sure.

I guess the next thing would be, that hopefully they won't double as space heaters/lap warmers.

 

[Stingy McDuck]

Some are speculating Intel will completely replace the i3, i5, i7, and i9 naming with "Pro," "Max," and "Ultra"

I feel they want to diferentiate themselves from their competitors. It'll probably work for a while, until AMD decides to release their new Ryzen-Pro, Ryzen-Max and Ryzen-Ultra processors.

 

[Kashim]

With a name like ULTRA you know it's going to be good! Wait, what's that smell... is that the stench of desperation?

They should've just went with the Core-UltraProMax naming to cover all bases. You can polish a turd, but it's still going to be a turd.

"Yes, we are making brand changes as we're at an inflection point in our client roadmap" I love these buzz words like inflection point.

"Yes, we are leveraging shifting paradigms to create new synergy at an inflection point in our client roadmap", there I fixed it.

They should come out with a new naming scheme for their process node too while they're at it, because moving to 20A (Angstroms) was not misleading enough. Why not just claim their next CPUs are on a brand new 2F process node? (F as in Fermi, the size below Angstrom.)

 

[wiyosaya]

The company says it's at "an inflection point in our client roadmap," implying its upcoming Meteor Lake CPUs are a significant step forward for Intel that requires a new product naming convention.

I'll believe this when I see it. IMO, its more likely that Intel does not like the profits they are currently making which is on them and is founded in their piddling performance increases for astronomical prices increases in previous generations when AMD was not giving them a run for their money.

IMO, they should just say that they need a new marketing gimmick so they can continue milking their customers for every penny they can pry from their hands because Intel. At the least, saying something like that would have a modicum of marketing honesty.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

I feel they want to diferentiate themselves from their competitors. It'll probably work for a while, until AMD decides to release their new Ryzen-Pro, Ryzen-Max and Ryzen-Ultra processors.

Will those AMD cpu's fry like AM5?

 

[mrtraver]

What a tease lol. From the headline I thought they were finally ditching the perpetually lame "Core" name. It has been around for 17 years now, and was never a cool name. I'd rather see the name go away completely than add generic superlatives like "Pro," 'Max," and 'Ultra."

The "Pentium" name drop was far too late. "Pentium" was the name for the 5th generation x86 CPU; I.e. 586. Pentium 2 was the 6th generation, so "Pentium" no longer made sense, but Intel did not have the balls to call it Sextium. Now is their chance to redeem themselves.