The arrival of the Raptor Lake Refresh has been confirmed by Intel China, as they attempt to clarify the meaning behind the "Core" branding.

Intel China has turned to Weibo and Bilibili to explain the future of its 14th generation CPU lineups, including new branding and naming conventions for 2023 and beyond. The company has officially acknowledged that Raptor Lake-U, Raptor Lake-S, and Raptor Lake-HX SKUs will receive a refresh. Intel's branding scheme will become even more complex with the introduction of Meteor Lake, which will premiere "Core Ultra" instead of the old "i" labeling system. The Raptor Lake Refresh series will be split into Core # and Core i# families, making matters even more complicated.

It appears that Raptor Lake-U & H Refresh (mobile) and the entire Meteor Lake lineup will adopt the new Core # branding scheme, but the latter series will be more powerful, hence the addition of Ultra (e.g Ultra Core 5/7/9), so customers can differentiate between product lines in the same generation. Desktop Raptor Lake-S Refresh and high-end mobile Raptor Lake-HX Refresh processors will retain the traditional "Core i" naming convention, which will eventually be retired with the 14th gen family.

Here is a simplified breakdown of Intel China's chart information (compiled by Wccftech):

Raptor Lake-S Refresh (Desktop) - 14th Gen "Core i" Branding
Raptor Lake-HX Refresh (Laptop) - 14th Gen "Core i" Branding
Meteor Lake-U/H (Laptop Client) - 1st Gen "Core Ultra" Branding
Raptor Lake-U/H Refresh (Laptop) - 1st Gen "Core" Branding

Jerry Lawson Jerry is a hardware reviewer and benchmark specialist with a keen eye for detail. He focuses on testing new GPUs, CPUs, and motherboards, delivering in-depth analysis that helps readers make smarter upgrade decisions.