Nvidia is canceling the launch of the RTX 4080 12GB model, saying it made a mistake with the product’s naming.
“The RTX 4080 12GB is a fantastic graphics card, but it’s not named right. Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is confusing,” the company wrote in a statement on Friday. “So, we’re pressing the 'unlaunch' button on the 4080 12GB.”
The decision is stunning and may be the first time Nvidia has abruptly canceled a GPU product weeks before launch. But it appears the company is taking seriously the consumer complaints about the RTX 4080 12GB, which was supposed to sell at the high price of $899 and up.
Nvidia announced the product alongside the RTX 4080 16GB edition last month. The decision to give both GPUs the same name, suggests the only difference between them is the video memory. However, Nvidia’s own specs and benchmarks show the two models are very different.
For example, the 12GB model only has 7680 CUDA cores and 192-bit memory interface, a decrease from the 9728 CUDA cores and the 256-bit interface in the 16GB model. That’s caused many gamers to call out the RTX 4080 12GB as an overpriced RTX 4070 in disguise.
Despite the cancellation, Nvidia is pressing on with the launch for the RTX 4080 16GB model, which will start at $1,199. In the same statement, the company announced the product will arrive on Nov. 16 at retailers. “The RTX 4080 16GB is amazing and on track to delight gamers everywhere,” Nvidia added.
The company has also deleted mention of the RTX 4080 12GB model from its official website. What will happen to the product units—which were likely already in mass production and possibly in product packaging—remains unclear. Nvidia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the company is probably going to rebrand them under a different name, perhaps RTX 4070 Ti.