Celeron is a series of low-end IA-32 and x86-64 computer microprocessor models targeted at low-cost personal computers, manufactured by Intel. The first Celeron-branded CPU was introduced in April 15, 1998, and was based on the Pentium II.
Celeron-branded processors released from 2009 to 2022 are compatible with IA-32 software. They typically offer less performance per clock speed compared to flagship Intel CPU lines, such as the Pentium or Core brands. They often have less cache or intentionally disabled advanced features, with variable impact on performance. While some Celeron designs have achieved strong performance for their segment, the majority of the Celeron line has exhibited noticeably degraded performance. This has been the primary justification for the higher cost of other Intel CPU brands versus the Celeron range.
In September 2022, Intel announced that the Celeron brand, along with Pentium, will be replaced with the new "Intel Processor" branding for low-end processors in laptops from 2023 onwards.
As a product concept, the Celeron was introduced in response to Intel's loss of the low-end market, in particular to the Cyrix 6x86, the AMD K6, and the IDT Winchip. Intel's existing low-end product, the Pentium MMX, was no longer performance-competitive at 233 MHz. Although a faster Pentium MMX would have been a lower-risk strategy, the industry-standard Socket 7 platform hosted a market of competitor CPUs that could be drop-in replacements for the Pentium MMX. Instead, Intel pursued a budget part that was to be pin-compatible with their high-end Pentium II product, using the Pentium II's proprietary Slot 1 interface.
The Celeron also effectively killed off the nine-year-old 80486 chip, which had been the low-end processor brand for entry-level desktops and laptops until 1998.
Intel hired marketing firm Lexicon Branding, which had originally come up with the name "Pentium", to devise a name for the new product as well. The San Jose Mercury News described Lexicon's reasoning behind the name they chose: Celer is Latin for swift, as in the word 'accelerate', and 'on' as in 'turned on'.