Intel's next generation Core Ultra 200 series desktop processors are just around the corner and popular Canadian e-tailer PC-Canada has officially posted listings for five upcoming models including featuring prices. Originally discovered by @momomo_us on X, Pricing for the Ultra 9, Ultra 7, and Ultra 5 models are extremely similar to Intel's existing Core i9, i7, and i5 14th Gen parts, suggesting Intel is not increasing pricing for this generation.
The five new Core Ultra desktop models listed are the Core Ultra 9 285K, Core Ultra 7 265K, 265KF, Core Ultra 5 245K, and 245KF. The Core Ultra 9 285K is priced at $847, the Core Ultra 7 265K at $584, the Core Ultra 7 265KF at $563, the Core Ultra 5 245K at $447, and the Core Ultra 5 245KF at $424 (all prices in CAD).
Compared to Intel's outgoing 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs, PC-Canada is selling the same tier chips for virtually the same prices, give or take $20. The Core i9-14900K is priced $25 cheaper than the 285K, 14700K $10 more than the 265K, 14700KF $10 less than the 265KF, 14600K $2 less than 245K, 14600KF $17 less than 245KF (all price differences in CAD).
🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/NBpWZlkI09September 9, 2024
Remember that PC-Canada is a Canadian-based retailer, so pricing is based on Canadian dollars. Currently, Canadian dollars are worth roughly 25% less than United States dollars, which explains the very high price tags compared to US retailers such as Newegg, Amazon, Micro Center, Best Buy, and others.
In summary, the good news is that Intel does not appear to be increasing pricing for its next-generation chips. We can expect Arrow Lake-S chips to be competitive against Raptor Lake Refresh if this pricing strategy holds up at launch. However, at least in the United States, 13th Gen pricing has come down quite a bit since launch. To the point where multiple 13th Gen SKUs are $100 cheaper (roughly) than their newer 14th Gen counterparts — for more details check out our CPU Pricing Index for 2024. This is not the case in PC-Canada, though, where 13th Gen prices remain virtually identical to 14th Gen.
Arrow Lake-S is the codename for Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 200 series processors that will be succeeding Intel's infamously unstable 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs. Arrow Lake will debut with upgraded Lion Cove P-Cores, which are the same P-Cores that are in Lunar Lake, but the Lion Cove cores in Arrow Lake will have HyperThreading onboard. It is also extremely likely that Arrow Lake-S will be taking advantage of TSMC silicon as new reports reveal that Intel is planning to ditch its 20A process node, skipping it entirely for 18A, which will arrive with the CPU generation after Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake — Panther Lake.