Fudzilla recently reported that the Core i7-2700K will begin its phase-out stage already in Q4, just one year after its introduction. Final shipments should take place in the second quarter of next year, along with the 2600K and 2500K models, which will also be phased out.
Of course, there is good reasoning, as Intel has to drive the economics of scale through its 22 nm processor, which will be succeeded by Haswell in Q2 2013. Intel's tick-tock cadence, which foresees a die-shrink in uneven years and a new architecture in even years, is clearly behind the promise Intel gave back in the 2005/2006 time frame, so it wouldn't (and shouldn't) be too surprising to see a slight speed-up in processor lifecycles.
German publication HT4U reported that 70 percent of Intel's processor production in the fourth quarter will be Ivy Bridge models. There was no official confirmation for this number, but given Intel's announcement during the Q2 earnings call that Ivy Bridge production had crossed the 50 percent mark, the 70 percent estimate sounds reasonable and perhaps even a bit conservative. Considering the pressure for the PC market to regain traction and produce appealing devices for Windows 8, anything less than a 75 percent share for Ivy Bridge by the end of the year would be disappointing.
Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback