Friday, April 16th 2021
Intel 11th Gen "Rocket Lake" Pricing Already Going Down on Amazon
Prices of retail 11th Gen Intel Core "Rocket Lake" desktop processors are beginning to settle down close to the "1,000-unit tray" prices on Amazon (US). The 1K-unit tray prices have traditionally served as a de facto baseline for retail prices, and as of today (April 16), we see several SKUs popular with gamers and PC enthusiasts approach levels close to the baseline. This wouldn't strictly be a price-cut, since they are still higher than the baseline, but would be a trimming of the retailer mark-ups traditionally attached to new processor launches.
As of this writing, the retail Core i7-11700K is listed on Amazon (US) for USD $404, practically identical to the $399 1K-unit tray price. The i7-11700 (non-K) can be had for $339.99, very close to the $323.99 tray price. The Core i5-11600K is going for $264.99, which is almost identical to the $262 tray price. Lesser "locked" SKUs such as the i5-11500 are within $10-15 of their tray pricing. It's only the top-dog Core i9-11900K and i9-11900KF that remain heavily marked up by sellers on Amazon. At these prices, the 11th Gen Core processors are expected to apply pressure on sellers of AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors to review the prices of SKUs such as the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X; and on AMD to release cheaper Ryzen 5000 series SKUs in the retail channel.
As of this writing, the retail Core i7-11700K is listed on Amazon (US) for USD $404, practically identical to the $399 1K-unit tray price. The i7-11700 (non-K) can be had for $339.99, very close to the $323.99 tray price. The Core i5-11600K is going for $264.99, which is almost identical to the $262 tray price. Lesser "locked" SKUs such as the i5-11500 are within $10-15 of their tray pricing. It's only the top-dog Core i9-11900K and i9-11900KF that remain heavily marked up by sellers on Amazon. At these prices, the 11th Gen Core processors are expected to apply pressure on sellers of AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors to review the prices of SKUs such as the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X; and on AMD to release cheaper Ryzen 5000 series SKUs in the retail channel.