Intel is set to rebrand its venerable Core I CPUs when it launches the 14th Gen Meteor Lake processors. The semiconductor giant plans to remove the “i” in i7 i5 i3 and replace it with “Ultra”, in the name of its upcoming CPUs. The upcoming product will be called “Core Ultra 5 1003H”.
Bernard Fernandes, Intel’s Director of Communications, confirmed the rebranding in a Twitter post. He said the company is making brand changes as it’s at an inflection point in the client roadmap in preparation for the upcoming launch of the Meteor Lake processors.
But Dylan Patel, a semiconductor analyst, is not too pleased. “Imagine you’re losing market share when you have been a monopoly for decades, and your bright idea is to burn all brand recognition to the ground,” he tweeted. Patel believes rebranding is a horrible very short-sighted move that won’t fix Intel’s woes. He says it will cause more harm than good.
The analyst highlighted that many buyers know and recognize the i7 i5 branding, but they won’t once it’s changed. Patel said the new branding sounds bad with ultra strewed about, confusing scheme. A report stated that the Meteor Lake processor tested in AOTS is branded as the Core Ultra 5 1003H. This means Intel is prepping to drop its i3, i5, i7, and i9 classification for some of its upcoming mobile Meteor Lake CPUs.
