Intel's next-next-gen Celestial and Druid GPU rumor: no discrete GPU, will be GPU Tile on APUs

Intel's next-gen Battlemage GPU architecture launches this year, but after that, its next-next-gen Celestial and Druid GPUs could be GPU Tiles on future APUs from Intel, according to the latest rumors.

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In his latest video, Tom from Moore's Law is Dead reports from his sources that both Celestial and Druid have a single tile configuration and are listed (internally at Intel) as alternative flagships for their GPU architectures. This could suggest that Intel is "considering fully canceling" its discrete graphics cards and has already reportedly started the groundwork for Arc to only consist of GPU Tiles after Battlemage.

So, what does this mean for Intel's range of Arc GPUs? Well, Arc Alchemist is already on the market and hasn't been doing too badly... but it doesn't come close to competing with AMD's flock of Radeon GPUs or NVIDIA's fleet of GeForce RTX series GPUs. It's next-gen Battlemage GPU will be better, but it will still only compete with what's on the market now from both AMD and NVIDIA... but won't come close to next-gen GPU offerings.

• Read more: Intel rumor: no next-gen Battlemage GPUs for laptops, only discrete graphics cards
• Read more: Intel Arc Celestial GPUs: 'Ultra Enthusiast' GPU market in 2024+
• Read more: Intel 4th Gen Arc 'Druid' GPU teased for 2025, fights RTX 6090 SUPER

Intel leaving the discrete graphics card market both makes sense and doesn't.

Firstly, the company has only just pushed into the discrete graphics card market and has made a big deal about fighting AMD and NVIDIA for gamers' money. They've established itself in the discrete GPU market with its first-gen Arc GPU codenamed Alchemist. Alchemist offers gamers GeForce RTX 3060-ish levels of performance while consuming more power than it should.

There are custom models on the market, but they're not popular -- I don't know a single person that isn't a reviewer that has personally purchased an Intel Arc A series GPU -- not one. That doesn't make them bad, but not knowing a single person who owns a GPU from one of the largest companies in the PC industry? Hmm.

However, I don't think Intel has what it needs to fight AMD in the discrete GPU market, let alone NVIDIA.

NVIDIA is so far ahead it's holding back in multiple ways, as there's no need for something like the GeForce RTX 4090 Ti or RTX 4090 SUPER, or hell, the RTX 4090 Ti SUPER... because AMD doesn't have anything in its RDNA 3 GPU arsenal to compete, period. AMD will not be going for the super-flagship GPU market with its RDNA 4-powered Radeon RX 8000 series... leaving NVIDIA as the sole super-flagship GPU company with its future GeForce RTX 5090.

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Intel can't compete with the RTX 4070 SUPER with its Battlemage GPU in flagship discrete form, so moving into using its GPUs as GPU Tiles on future-gen Intel APUs... kinda makes more sense.

Right now, Intel is only offering its high-end laptops with GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs... there's barely any with Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs... and exactly zero with a discrete Intel Arc Alchemist GPU.

That's strange for a company that makes both CPUs and GPUs... meanwhile, AMD makes kick-ass Ryzen CPUs and APUs for laptops, and we don't see many gaming laptops with an AMD CPU and an AMD GPU. It's usually an AMD CPU or AMD APU mixed with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series GPU.