Panther Lake, the following technology of Intel’s Core Ultra sequence of laptop computer processors, is sort of right here. But what’s it, precisely?
Intel spent a number of days explaining the advantageous particulars of Panther Lake to journalists at a latest press occasion, together with its new compute cores, graphics cores, NPU AI, and wi-fi. If you’re , PCWorld has a deep dive into the entire applied sciences. But in the event you simply need the fundamentals, keep right here. Here’s what it’s essential to find out about Intel’s “Panther Lake” chip, in short.
1) Expect Panther Lake in 2026
Intel executives talked about a number of the particulars of Panther Lake themselves. But the small print that matter to laptop computer patrons (pace, value, and which laptops could have them) should watch for CES 2026 in Las Vegas this coming January. The precise laptops will ship quickly after, maybe even in January itself.
2) Three chip households, three CPUs
Each Panther Lake chip consists of three potential sorts of compute cores: a “Cougar Cove” efficiency core, a “Darkmont” effectivity core, and a Darkmont low-power effectivity core. Performance cores deal with duties like video games; effectivity cores course of much less difficult duties like e-mail and Microsoft Teams.
Intel
Laptop makers will embrace one in all these three Panther Lake chips inside their merchandise:
- An 8-core chip, with 4 efficiency (P-cores), 4 low-power efficiency-cores (LP E-cores); 4 Xe3 GPU cores and 4 ray-tracing models
- A 16-core chip, with 4 P-cores, 8 effectivity cores (E-cores), and 4 LP E-cores; 4 Xe3 GPU cores and 4 ray-tracing models
- A 16-core chip, with 4 P-cores, 8 E-cores, and 4 LP E-cores; 12 Xe3 GPU cores and 12 ray-tracing models.
3) Who is every Panther Lake chip for?
The 8-core chip will in all probability be for low-end PCs, although it’s not fairly clear how all the pieces will break down. If you’re searching for a gaming laptop computer with a Panther Lake chip inside, chances are you’ll be stunned to study that the center 16-core/4 Xe3 chip would be the candidate right here.
The 16-core/12Xe3 chip sounds prefer it might be used as Intel’s reply to AMD’s Strix Halo or Ryzen AI Max: designed for gaming, native AI, and presumably handheld PCs as nicely.
4) A modular CPU, once more
Intel has constructed its processors from modular chiplets, or tiles, for a number of generations now. In Panther Lake, there’s a compute tile, a GPU tile, a platform controller tile, and a “base tile” that the opposite tiles are mounted upon. All of the tiles are related collectively by way of a second-gen scalable I/O material and use Intel’s Foveros expertise to stack them.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
Intel constructed its GPU tile as a separate tile, which apparently allowed for flexibility in its graphics choices. Eventually, Intel might use this disaggregated GPU tile as a method to deliver the Nvidia RTX GPU tiles into its chips, however this looks as if it’s a methods off for now. Still, a number of tiles are constructed at TSMC, not Intel, though the U.S. government has invested in the company to encourage home chipmaking.
5) Intel’s Xe3 GPU supplies a pointy soar in efficiency
Integrated graphics regularly improves, and Intel believes that the Xe3 GPU core is 50 p.c quicker on common than Lunar Lake simply by itself. The Xe3 core now helps multiframe technology, too — in all probability its most controversial characteristic.
6) Multiframe technology: The ‘fake frames’ debate involves laptops
Perhaps an important addition to PC graphics expertise up to now decade — much more than ray tracing — has been a transition from rendered frames to AI-generated frames. It’s a bit like how your thoughts processes cartoon animations: It sees a nonetheless picture after which one other nonetheless picture, and blurs them collectively. In this case, it’s the GPU doing the work, making a “made up” body between two “actual” frames.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
With Panther Lake, multiframe technology provides three of those interpolated (some name them “fake”) frames. Under the proper situations, it may well look improbable, and drive up body charges to make video games look silky easy. Under the fallacious situations, it may well really make a slowly rendered sport look considerably worse. We don’t know the way it will all play out.
7) Early efficiency estimates are optimistic
Compared to predecessors Lunar Lake and Meteor Lake, Intel’s Panther Lake provides greater than 50 p.c higher multithreaded efficiency, Intel says. In single-threaded efficiency (typically described as how “snappy” Windows feels) Panther Lake must be 10 p.c higher than Lunar Lake on the identical energy.
Intel can also be claiming that the overall Panther Lake system-on-chip will eat 10 p.c much less energy than Lunar Lake, and demonstrated a trio of laptops working a Core Ultra chip from every technology to again that up.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any “real world” gaming or software benchmark outcomes but. Expect these in January, or after our personal assessments.
8) Panther Lake’s NPU energy is essentially unchanged
TOPS is how chipmakers measure AI efficiency. At 50 TOPS, Panther Lake isn’t far more highly effective than its predecessor, Lunar Lake — although it pales compared to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite. What Intel and different chipmakers are hoping for is “agentic AI”: little impartial AI brokers all roaming although your PC and the online, performing duties that may suck up these accessible TOPS. Will it occur? Who is aware of.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
9) Thunderbolt 4, once more!
For no matter cause, Intel selected once more to not combine Thunderbolt 5 expertise into its cell processor. Instead, it’s utilizing Thunderbolt 4 and leaving laptop computer makers to combine discrete Thunderbolt 5 chips themselves. Looks like we’ll be prioritizing Thunderbolt 4 inside our suggestions for the best Thunderbolt docks for one more yr.
10) Panther Lake will hold you trying good
Intel’s built-in laptop computer processors embrace what’s referred to as an “image processing unit” that interacts along with your webcam. The IPU 7.5, as Intel calls it, contains improved HDR capabilities in addition to noise discount for improved low-light efficiency. Tone mapping will enhance how all the pieces appears, through the use of both the NPU’s AI or GPU.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
Incidentally, Intel’s picture processing will work with both your built-in webcam or standalone webcam.
11) Some unexpectedly cool wi-fi applied sciences
I don’t normally consider my laptop computer’s wi-fi capabilities as something particular. Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth, yawn. Not this time.
Panther Lake helps Auracast, which mainly outputs to 2 units, not only one. Want to observe a YouTube video with a pal, however quietly? Now you don’t should share earbuds. A way referred to as platform sounding additionally supplies much more correct distance modelling, so in the event you’ve misplaced your laptop computer (or, conversely, your earbuds) you need to use the onboard Bluetooth to rapidly discover them.
Intel’s Wi-Fi 7 even helps some unreleased options, which ought to enhance the efficiency and vary of your wi-fi Panther Lake system.
We’ve now heard from Intel and Qualcomm about their upcoming laptop computer processors for 2026. Now AMD, what do you may have for us?