Intel announced this week a new branding structure that the company will start to use with its upcoming 14th gen Meteor Lake CPUs. The company will simplify the branding of its Core processors by dropping the “i” letter for processor tiering, and it’s also creating a new Ultra label for its most advanced processors.
Intel sees its upcoming Meteor Lake CPUs as “an inflection point for design, manufacturing, and architecture. These upcoming CPUs will be the first to use the new Intel 4 process node, and in addition to improved power efficiency and graphics performance, Meteor Lake CPUs will also include a dedicated AI engine.
According to Intel, its new branding structure will make it easier for customers to differentiate its most advanced “Ultra” CPUs from its mainstream “Core” offerings. The company also wants to emphasize “the prominence of the Intel Core brand that has been a staple of the PC industry for nearly two decades.”
New Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra processor brands
In practice, Intel is dropping the “i” letter from processor tiering, so there will no longer be Core i3/i5/i7/i9. With the new differentiation between “Core” and “Core” Ultra processors, here’s how the Meteor Lake lineup will look like with this new two-tiered brand:
- Mainstream CPUs: Intel Core 3/Core 5/Core 7 (no Core 9 model)
- Premium CPUs: Intel Core Ultra 5/Core Ultra 7/Core Ultra 9 (no Core Ultra 3 model)
It’s not exactly clear yet how Intel’s Core Ultra Meteor Lake CPUs will differ from the base Intel Core models. The company also said its in-house Arc GPUs can be paired with both Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra CPUs.
Intel will keep using processor numbers for each model (Intel Core Ultra 7 processor ####, for example), but the company’s final processor numbering for its Meteor Lake CPUs has yet to be determined. However, Intel plans to de-emphasize processor generations going forward, so we’re not going to hear about Meteor Lake being the 14th generation of Intel’s Core CPUs.
Intel vPro Enterprise and Intel vPro Essentials device labels
As part of this branding update, Intel is also introducing new Intel VPro Enterprise and vPro Essentials device labels for relevant commercial systems. Intel vPro will continue to represent the company’s set of hardware and software solutions for enhancing the security and manageability of business PCs.
Lastly, Intel will also be evolving the Intel Evo Edition platform brand for Evo-verified PCs. Intel’s EVO platform will continue to target mainstream consumers and “prosumers.”
Overall, Intel says that this new client branding structure is its “biggest brand update in 15 years,” and these changes will start to appear once Meteor Lake CPUs start shipping in the second half of 2023.