Well, it's kinda official now... Intel has confirmed details of its branding update coming to its next-next-gen 15th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" CPUs in Q4 2024, but that's a year away... before that, we've got the 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" CPUs coming that will be led by the new flagship Core i9-14900K processor.

• Read more: Intel Drops "i" from Core CPU Branding on Future CPUs
• Read more: Intel 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" CPUs Coming in October
• Read more: Intel Core i9-14900K is the Next Flagship CPU, Coming Soon

The new branding from Intel will see the 'i' removed from its CPUs -- for example, the Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 processors will become the Core 3, Core 5, Core 7, and Core Ultra. Confusing? Probably. Intel's upcoming 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" CPUs will be split into Core ix and Core x while the 15th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" CPUs will shift into the new branding in full.

Intel China is now pumping out some explanations for their fans, where we're getting confirmation of Intel's upcoming 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" processors for the first time. You can see on the left we've got the 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" and 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" CPUs in Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 versions... while the upcoming 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake-HX/S Refresh" CPUs will still have Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 versions but there will be some changes across the board with naming.

We will see:

• Core Ultra 5, Ultra 7, Ultra 9: 15th Gen Core "Meteor Lake"
• Core 3, Core 5, Core 7: 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake-U Refresh"
• Core ix Mobile: 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake-HX Refresh"
• Core ix Desktop: 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake-S Refresh"

It's going to be confusing for customers who aren't up to date with all the branding differences, as we're getting new Core branding with the 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" CPUs while the bigger shift happens with 15th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" in Q4 2024.