Intel announced this morning a new branding structure for its Core processors ahead of the release of its next-gen Meteor Lake CPUs. The company is dropping the “i” letter from its Core CPUs to just keep “Intel Core 3”, “Intel Core 5, and “Intel Core 7”, and there is also a new “Ultra” moniker for premium Intel processors.

The chip maker said today that this was the biggest brand update for its CPU in 15 years. Intel justified the change by the importance of its upcoming Meteor Lake CPU generation, which is coming in the second half of 2023.

“Meteor Lake represents an inflection point in Intel’s client processor roadmap. It will be the first client processor manufactured on the new Intel 4 process node. It’s the first client chiplet design enabled by Foveros advanced 3D packaging technology, and it will deliver improved power efficiency and graphics performance. It’s also the first Intel client processor to feature a dedicated AI engine: Intel AI Boost,” the company explained.

Back in September, Intel also discontinued its Pentium and Celeron brands for entry-level CPUs and replaced them with a new “Intel Processor” brand. Going forward, here’s how Intel’s CPU lineup will work:

• Intel Processor: Entry-level CPUs
• Intel Core 3 / Core 5 / Core 7: Mainstream CPUs
• Intel Core Ultra 5 / Ultra 7 / Ultra 9: Premium CPUs.

Please note that there won’t be “Intel Core 9” or “Intel Core Ultra 3” CPUs. However, even though Intel’s “Ultra” moniker will designate the company’s most advanced CPUs, the chip maker also said that Intel Arc graphics can be paired with both Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra processors.

Lastly, Intel is also planning to de-emphasize the use of CPU generations starting with Meteor Lake, which will be the 14th generation of Intel Core CPUs. The company will also introduce a new processor numbering (the four numbers that come after a specific CPU type), though the new numbering system is yet to be determined.

“These changes make it easier for customers to identify the right client solutions from Intel’s industry-leading partner ecosystem for their compute needs. And it will do so while emphasizing the prominence of the Intel Core brand that has been a staple of the PC industry for nearly two decades,” Intel said today.

It’s too early to tell if this new branding structure is going to make Intel’s CPU lineup easier to understand for customers. However, the clear separation between Core CPUs and Core Ultra CPUs should help to better identify the company’s top-of-the-line CPUs.