NVIDIA ‘Unlaunches’ The RTX 4080 12GB Citing A Lack Of Proper Naming

In a surprising turn of events, NVIDIA recently posted a news article titled ‘Unlaunching The 12GB 4080‘. While sounding like a joke to many, this indeed is real. For some context, the now cancelled RTX 4080 12GB variant was once an RTX 4070 specification wise. The 4080 branding was a last minute update due to some ‘unexpected’ reasons.

Ruling Out the Imposter

The RTX 4080 12GB has been dubbed as an ‘imposter GPU‘ by enthusiasts. The fact is, this GPU has 70 class specifications but is marketed as a 80 series product. NVIDIA received a lot of criticism for this decision which may have driven them into a corner. This is a major announcement because we may now see massive price changes.

So, we’re pressing the “unlaunch” button on the 4080 12GB. The RTX 4080 16GB is amazing and on track to delight gamers everywhere on November 16th.

~NVIDIA

While giving us this news, NVIDIA also announced that the RTX 4080 16GB will retail by the 16th of November. So this does beg the question, what will become of the RTX 4080 12GB? Will it be rebranded as a 70 series GPU or will NVIDIA completely change the Lovelace lineup. It is too early to say much, however, we do have a few speculations. 

A 4070 Ti in the Making

NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace lineup had pricing problems since the very start. The cheapest 4080 comes in at around $899, which leaves a huge amount of market share for AMD. Even if the RTX 4070 is priced $200 cheaper, NVIDIA would still need to fill the pricing gaps in between. To put it shortly, the RTX 4060 would cost you no less than $500 based on team green’s strategy;

• RTX 4090 $1599 
• RTX 4080 16GB $1199
• RTX 4080 12GB $899
• RTX 4070 Ti $799 (Speculative, possible rebranding of the 4080 12GB)
• RTX 4070 $699 (Speculative)
• RTX 4060 Ti $599 (Speculative)
• RTX 4060 $499 (Speculative)

The fate of the RTX 4080 is uncertain for now. These chips might have already been mass produced which is bad news for AIB partners. We here at Appuals will keep you updated if more news surfaces.