Intel’s first-generation graphics cards struggled to make an impact in a market dominated by NVIDIA and AMD. Despite this, Intel remains committed to its plans and is expected to unveil its second-generation Battlemage GPUs in December, according to a reliable industry insider.
On the Chinese social media platform Weibo, user Golden Pig Upgrade expressed anticipation for the “impressive performance of Battlemage for desktop” next month. However, it’s still unclear whether Intel will be releasing the cards immediately or simply making an official announcement.
Earlier leaks had suggested a 2024 release for the Arc Battlemage series. Recently, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger mentioned in a meeting with shareholders that the new desktop GPUs are scheduled to launch by the end of this year.
If this timeline holds true and Intel’s new graphics cards debut in December, the launch would come just a month before CES 2025, a major event where AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA typically showcase their latest technologies.
Intel and AMD out of the high-end GPU segment?
A rumor earlier this year suggested that Intel’s upcoming Battlemage graphics cards may not target the high-end segment. Unofficial sources indicate that AMD might adopt a similar strategy with its next Radeon RX 8000 series, based on the RDNA 4 architecture.
If true, this would leave NVIDIA with an uncontested lead in the premium GPU market, particularly in the GeForce RTX xx80 and xx90 series. In the current generation, AMD did put up a fight against NVIDIA’s high-performance RTX 40 series, but the RTX 4090 has firmly established itself as the fastest gaming GPU available.
It’s worth noting that Intel’s Battlemage architecture, known as Xe2, is already featured in the integrated graphics of the upcoming Lunar Lake mobile CPUs.
