Another leak has surfaced, reinforcing rumors that Intel is planning to reveal Battlemage next month. Hardware data miner and leaker Tomasz Gawroński has shared a Battlemage SoC teaser which is sourced from Gazlog - a Japanese blog. The authenticity of this image is something we cannot be certain about. However, in tandem with previous leaks, there is a distinct possibility we will see Battlemage arrive before RDNA 4 and Blackwell.
A few days prior, we covered a similar leak from Golden Pig Upgrade Pack who very subtly suggested a December showcase for Battlemage on desktop. It is pertinent to mention that Battlemage or Xe2 first launched with Intel's Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 200V) chips this year. Since Arc Alchemist dGPUs (Discrete GPUs) hit shelves, Intel has been very secretive about the future of Arc - with some taking this as indicative of the division's potential closure. Strangely enough, you'd expect Intel to be pretty vocal if it is indeed launching Battlemage next month - so it is best to take this claim with a pinch of salt. Nonetheless, both leaks only point towards an announcement so it may take a few days or even weeks before these GPUs hit retail.
These reports show Intel's great ambitions and hopes for its GPU division and recent benchmarks indicate that Team Blue has caught up to AMD. This is a rather positive outlook for Battlemage if it can keep pace with RDNA 3.5 - although RDNA 4 could be a different story since it pins a strong emphasis on better RT and maybe even hardware-based upscaling capabilities. Per previous leaks, Intel has three GPUs planned for Battlemage: Arc BMG-31, Arc BMG-20, and Arc BMG-G10 with BMG-31 rumored to feature (possibly up to) 32 Xe-cores.
Again, will the average consumer go out of their way and pick Intel over Nvidia and AMD who've already established their foothold in the market? Case in point; despite AMD's competitive offerings, it is still struggling to penetrate the gaming market against Nvidia - as no Radeon card ranks within the top 30 GPUs on Steam's hardware survey. Moreover, are Intel's drivers up to the mark? With these concerns in mind, Intel will have to offer some strong incentives such as greater value and higher VRAM capacities as the market desperately needs affordable yet capable GPUs. It'll be great to see if Team Blue can launch a few 12GB or even 16GB variants for the budget segment - setting a new standard and pushing Nvidia and AMD to follow suit.
If this leak proves accurate, and if Intel can dish out ample volume before the holiday season, that could give it a serious headstart advantage. Remember, RDNA 4 and Blackwell (RTX 50) GPUs are still slated for CES 2025 in January.
