Intel launched its highly anticipated Panther Lake mobile processors today at CES 2026 as the Intel Core Ultra Series 3. The new chips will be shipping out with laptops starting this week.
Jim Johnson, Intel's Senior VP and General Manager for Intel's Client Computing Group, said at the company's CES press conference that Intel 18A is the center of the company's effort to reestablish its leadership position in the semiconductor industry.
The major rearchitecting of the SoC promises better power efficiency, better performance, and lower power overall.
Intel says its most excited about the new integrated GPU in the Intel Core Ultra Series 3, with the 12 Xe3 core GPU branded as the Intel Arc B390.
Importantly, this new GPU will be the first integrated GPU to feature multiframe generation through Intel XeSS 3. Intel says this will allow a game like Battlefield 6 run at 147 fps at 1080p on its highest graphics settings (Overkill settings).
Intel also revealed that it is developing an entire PC gaming handheld platform around Intel Core Ultra Series 3 that its partners like MSI, Acer, and others can use to develop their own products.
This is a major challenge to AMD's APU dominance for handhelds with its AMD Ryzen Z-series chips. Details on this framework are a bit light at the moment, but I can assume we're going to hear a lot more about this in the weeks and months ahead.
As for AI, Intel promises that its deep collaboration with its software ISVs, including Microsoft, will give Intel Core Ultra series 3 chips a definitive advantage over AMD and Qualcomm for on-device AI applications.
What those applications will be remains to be seen, but if AI really is the future of computing, Intel feels very confident that it is best positioned for it.
