Unboxing int value using Integer Class

Question

In this circumstance what is the value of variable y after the first two statements? I'm assuming it's Integer 7 but my book says automatic unboxing of objects only occurs with relational operators < >". I'm a little confused how variable Integer y gets it's value. Does any unboxing occur in newInteger(x)?

Integer x = 7;
Integer y = new Integer(x); 

println( "x == y" + " is " +  (x == y))

Answer 1

Integer x = 7;

In this case, the int literal 7 is automatically boxed into the Integer variable x.

Integer y = new Integer(x);

This involves an automatic unboxing of the Integer variable x into an int (temporary) variable, which is passed to the Integer constructor. In other words, it is equivalent to:

Integer y = new Integer(x.intValue());

After this statement, y points to a new object that is different than x but containing the same int wrapped value.