A story from the Taiwanese site Digitimes citing what it describes as unnamed PC makers suggests that Intel might once again be looking to make price cuts to retain its lead in market share over AMD. There are no specifics about which CPUs are in line for price cuts this time out, although we can rule out the HEDTs getting cut again as they have already been dramatically reduced in price. The price cut should be happening in the second half of the year.
It’s encouraging to see that Intel is willing to take such measures rather than rely on marketing and brand recognition to fend off AMD. Uncompetitive pricing would erode consumer trust and damage the brand more profoundly than simply falling behind in the CPU tech race would do. Besides which any CPU can be competitive if it is cheap enough while still fit for purpose.
Price cuts are not as exciting as new technologies or record busting new hardware, but they can still do interesting things for PC builders. For example the price cuts made to the Intel HEDT CPU range have dragged High End Desk Top CPUs kicking and screaming into the price range of people who might otherwise have never even looked at them.
This price cut will hit Intel’s already beleaguered profit margins but this sort of competition is good news for consumers.