The Celeron is not a CPU in itself; it is a family of low-end x86 standard cores.

All the derived Celeron CPUs have lower performance capabilities than the higher-end processors. The Celeron targets the ultra-cheap PC market and is designed for basic tasks, but few applications run smoothly.

The first Celeron was introduced in April 1998 and was a degraded version of the Pentium II Deschutes core. The Celeron family is still in production nowadays.