Despite Intel dropping the desktop CPU ball this year, its share of the market fell by just 4.9%—while AMD still lags significantly behind on mobile

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Existing OEM agreements to the rescue, it seems.

A photo of an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor next to an Intel logo
(Image credit: Future)

We weren't particularly impressed with Intel's Arrow Lake desktop CPUs upon their release earlier this year. While chips like the Core Ultra 9 285K and Core Ultra 5 245K are far from sluggish, we clocked them as slower in games overall than some of the comparable chips from the older Raptor Lake generation, and nowhere near as good value in relative terms compared with their AMD competition.

Nonetheless, new data from Mercury Research shows that, despite the frosty reaction towards these chips from the PC hardware community at large, it doesn't appear to have made as much of a dent in Intel's desktop market share as you might expect. MR reports that Intel's slice of the desktop CPU market is 4.9% lower in the third quarter of this year, compared to Q3 2025.

A chart showing relative CPU market shares for AMD and Intel in Q3 2025

(Image credit: Mercury Research)

So, pick up, say, a fleet of desktop PCs for your business from many major manufacturers, and chances are you'll be choosing from an Intel-dominated lineup. Of course, AMD has its own arrangements with certain manufacturers, but it's still Intel that has the lion's share, and as a result, Intel's latest desktop CPUs are still moving at a considerable rate.

And when it comes to laptops, that effect is magnified. We were surprised when Razer switched over to AMD for its latest generation Blade gaming laptops, and wondered whether it might be a sign of a tipping point being reached. Were we about to see other laptop manufacturers jump ship in a similar way?

Turns out, apparently not. And to be fair to Intel, its new mobile CPUs are some of the fastest we've tested. Not that it makes too much difference, as it's down to what manufacturers are providing, and most laptop providers are still pumping out machines with Intel chips almost to the exclusion of AMD Ryzen silicon.

AMD may be having quite the run of success with its desktop CPUs, and servers, too, but it's still running into OEM agreements that mean the market share overall still sides significantly in Intel's favour, despite all the negativity it's received this year. It's a complicated world, isn't it? A butterfly flaps its wings, but in this case, it looks like nothing but a brief gust of air.

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Andy Edser
Andy Edser
Hardware Writer

Andy built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 12, when IDE cables were a thing and high resolution wasn't—and he hasn't stopped since. Now working as a hardware writer for PC Gamer, Andy spends his time jumping around the world attending product launches and trade shows, all the while reviewing every bit of PC gaming hardware he can get his hands on. You name it, if it's interesting hardware he'll write words about it, with opinions and everything.

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