On Tuesday, Intel notified Tom's Hardware that it officially cut the suggested retail price (SRPs) of its boxed Core Ultra 7 200-series processors for desktops by around $100. It is common for CPU developers to cut the prices of their products, but it is uncommon for companies like Intel to formally confirm such moves. However, there is a small catch: since we are dealing with SRPs, actual prices may vary.
Effective immediately, Intel's Core Ultra 7 processor 265K has a suggested retail price of $299 (previously $399), whereas the Core Ultra 7 model 265KF carries an SRP of $284 (previously $384). According to Intel, as these are SRPs, actual prices will vary between retailers and markets depending on taxes, tariffs, and all the other variables that go into the point-of-sale price.
Intel also noted that its suggested price guidance is separate from ongoing bundles/retail promotions, so if you are lucky enough, buyers can still get an Intel Core Ultra 7 200S-series processor with a bundled game or professional applications.
Recommended customer prices (RRPs) of Intel's range-topping Core Ultra 9 285/285K ($549/$589) and performance mainstream Core Ultra 5 245/245K/245KF ($270/$309/$294) remain unchanged, so Intel is probably trying to address a very particular audience with the price cut rather than make the whole Core Ultra 200S-series 'Arrow Lake-S' lineup more competitive. Meanwhile, this is arguably a thing that Intel must do to sustain its market share, as its Arrow Lake-S LGA1851 platform is usually more expensive than the previous-generation LGA1700 platform and AMD's AM5 platform.
Even Intel itself recently confirmed that sales of its 14th Generation Core 'Raptor Lake' processors were booming, whereas sales of its newer Lunar Lake, Arrow Lake, and Meteor Lake CPUs were below expectations. Keeping in mind that the performance of Intel's Raptor Lake CPUs in games is higher compared to the performance of competing Arrow Lake-S offerings, it is not surprising that gamers prefer previous-generation CPUs or platforms from AMD, which are even faster in many cases.
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