The latest tidbit comes courtesy of hardware data miner and leaker Tomasz Gawroński, who has shared a tantalising teaser of the Battlemage SoC from Gazlog, a Japanese blog.

Toms’ Hardware points out that while the image’s authenticity is uncertain, it's fuelling speculation that we might see Battlemage before AMD's RDNA 4 and Nvidia's Blackwell.

Just days ago, a similar leak from Golden Pig Upgrade Pack subtly suggested a December showcase for Battlemage on desktop. Battlemage, or Xe2, debuted with Intel's Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 200V) chips this year. Since the Arc Alchemist dGPUs hit the shelves, Intel has been eerily silent about the future of Arc, sparking rumours of the division's potential closure.

One would expect Intel to be shouting from the rooftops if Battlemage was launching next month, so perhaps it's wise to take this with a grain of salt. However, both leaks seem to point towards an announcement, so we may see these GPUs hit retail in the coming weeks.

These reports highlight Intel's ambitious plans and high hopes for its GPU division. Recent benchmarks indicate that Team Blue is catching up to AMD, painting a positive picture for Battlemage if it can compete with RDNA 3.5.

RDNA 4 could present a different challenge, focusing on better ray tracing and hardware-based upscaling capabilities. According to previous leaks, Intel has three GPUs planned for Battlemage: Arc BMG-31, Arc BMG-20, and Arc BMG-G10, with BMG-31 rumoured to feature up to 32 Xe-cores.

Chipzilla has mountains to climb in the GPU market, which is still mostly Nvidia and AMD’s playground. To win over consumers, Intel must offer strong incentives like greater value and higher VRAM capacities, as the market desperately needs affordable yet capable GPUs.

If this leak proves accurate and Intel can deliver ample volume before the holiday season, it could gain a significant head start. Remember, RDNA 4 and Blackwell (RTX 50) GPUs are still set for CES 2025 in January.