Haswell CPU pricing leaks, suggests Intel is shifting focus to low- and mid-range

The pricing for Intel's upcoming Haswell CPUs, which are due in June, has leaked -- and it's good news! Chips based on Intel's fourth-generation Core architecture will be almost exactly the same as the Ivy Bridge equivalent -- perhaps even a bit lower.

The leak comes from a source in China(Opens in a new window), which has got its hands on the Haswell pricing for retailers, for quantities of five CPUs or more. When looking at the table below, bear in mind that the actual price for a boxed Haswell CPU will probably be a little higher, depending on how much of a discount the retailer passes down to you.

For comparison, the Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge) has an MSRP of $332 -- $5 more than the 4770K, but their shelf price will probably be exactly the same; likewise, the 3770 (locked multiplier) is $294, vs. $292 for Haswell. The 4770S (low-power) seems to be a little cheaper than the 3770S ($284 vs. $294).

Things get a little more interesting further down the table, though: The i5-4570 is just $189, while its i5-3570 predecessor is $213. While this might sound like Intel is cutting prices in the mid-range, it's not quite that simple. Take another look at that table -- do you notice any unfamiliar model numbers? With Haswell, Intel is reintroducing the '6' model designation, which Ivy Bridge skipped. If we compare the 4670 to the 3570, they're the same price -- they're also the same clock speed (3.4/3.8GHz). Basically, Intel has shuffled the Haswell SKUs up a bit, to make space for more chips in the low- and mid-range.

This makes a lot of sense, when you remember that Haswell is envisioned by Intel as a one-size-fits-all chip, equally at home in desktops, laptops, ultrabooks, and tablets (but not smartphones). Not only is Haswell expected to be around 10-15% faster than Ivy Bridge, but its integrated GPU is expected to double the performance of Ivy Bridge's HD 4000 iGPU. If that wasn't enough, Haswell was intentionally designed to optimize the power reductions afforded by Intel's early jump to the 22nm FinFET process node -- in short, Haswell should be the most efficient, high-power chip on the market, with some SKUs reaching TDPs as low as 7W, barely more than the ARM Cortex-A15. With Intel also attacking the ARM/mobile space with Bay Trail, this year could be very exciting for Intel indeed -- and a horrible year for AMD and its marginalized APUs.

For more information on how Haswell's improved iGPU performance and reduced power consumption will squeeze AMD out of the market, see our Haswell explainer.  It's also worth noting that there was a report at the beginning of the month that stated that Intel had messed things up -- that Haswell wouldn't be able to hit the required power envelope. Intel denied the report, saying Haswell is "healthy and on time." The rumored release date for Haswell, incidentally, is June 2 -- a couple of days before Computex in Taipei.