Chipzilla has dropped its mates a Christmas card telling them that it will cut the price of Sandy Bridge-based processors. It is looking like some Core i3 and i5 series processors to see a drop of 10-15 per cent.
According to Digitimes which has been chatting with notebook makers since Intel is set to announce its next-generation Ivy Bridge-based processor in April of 2012, the company is hoping the price reduction could stimulate the market demand. Lenovo, Asustek Computer and Acer have already dropped their Core i5-2430 equipped notebook model to below US$659 and Core i3-equipped models have also fallen in price.
Vendors will be expected to hack about the prices of the first-generation Core i5-based ultrabooks to US$799-899 in January of 2012 to empty the inventory and prevent these machines killing off the next generation ultrabooks. Next-generation 22nm Ivy Bridge-based processors including Core i5-3450, Core i7-3370, are expected to be priced between $184-332, which are only 10-15 more than some of Intel's existing CPUs.
So Chipzilla really has to get the Sandy Bridge inventory out of its warehouse before it kills off its newer platform.
More here.