We wonder what has bitten Intel so that it's revising a well-established nomenclature? Simplification, really?
Following a well-established roadmap, Intel released its Alder Lake processor range - its 12th generation - in the autumn of 2021. Exactly one year later, Raptor Lake - the 13th generation - arrived, and all signs pointed to Meteor Lake as the 14th generation, scheduled for release in autumn 2023. "Indeed, Intel seems to have shaken up its plans quite a bit, as well as completely rethinking the way it names its future processors.
Intel has confirmed that Meteor Lake is to introduce a new way of naming its chips. There will be no more talk of Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Core i9, and it's not even certain whether Intel is still talking about 13th or 14th generation. The company has decided to opt for three main processor categories: Intel, Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra, the latter being intended as the most powerful reference models. For each category, Intel still envisages a system of numbers (3, 5, 7 and 9), but there will no longer be any question of multiplying combinations to avoid confusion. So, while an Intel Core Ultra will be a very high-end model, it wouldn't make much sense to see an Intel Core Ultra 3. We'll see if it's really simpler in practice, and to back up its point, Intel is releasing a few examples of processors that could come out with this new nomenclature: Intel Core Ultra 9 1090H, Intel Core Ultra 7 1070K, Intel Core 5 1050U. Not sure it's much clearer than that!
The question now is when exactly these names will be used. Indeed, we know that they will be introduced with the Meteor Lake range, but this is no longer expected to be as rich as initially planned. Several rumors suggest that Intel will - at least initially - reserve Meteor Lake for the mobile/low-power market. In fact, it would not be Intel's intention to market the Meteor Lake-S models found in our desktop PCs. Instead, Meteor Lake-H is planned for late 2023, with Meteor Lake-P and Meteor Lake-U arriving a little later, early next year. Has Intel abandoned the idea of offering new desktop processors by the end of 2023? That would be to misunderstand the American company, which is preparing a little surprise for us.
In fact, after the Meteor Lake-S, there's talk of a Raptor Lake-S refresh. A refresh is an upgrade of a processor to take account of improvements in the manufacturing process and - this is usually the main difference - to achieve slightly higher frequencies. The release of these Raptor Lake refreshes would also be an opportunity to use the old nomenclature one last time, resulting in processors such as the Core i9-14900K or Core i7-14700K. Oh yes, Intel would like to call these Raptor Lake refreshes, its 14th generation of processors! This would also enable Intel to extend the lifespan of its LGA1700 socket, since Meteor Lake is due to introduce the brand-new LGA1851.
