Intel's next-gen Panther Lake "Core Ultra Series 3" CPUs will be officially launched at CES 2026 in a diverse range of laptops.
Intel Panther Lake Continues the AI PC Journey With Third Gen "Core Ultra Series 3" CPUs, Launching at CES 2026
As expected, Intel has finally detailed its Panther Lake CPUs. These will be part of the "Core Ultra Series 3" lineup and feature brand new technologies such as new P-Cores, E-Cores, GPU Cores, and NPU/IPU. All of these combined in a multi-tile solution would deliver a great experience, not just limited to AI PC laptops, but for all kinds of devices.
During the Tech Tour 2025, Intel confirmed that it will officially launch Panther Lake "Core Ultra Series 3" CPUs at CES 2026, which is a few months away. At CES, the company will disclose full specs, performance metrics, and additional info, while its partners will be unveiling their platforms, such as laptops and Mini PCs, powered by Panther Lake CPUs.
Intel states that Panther Lake will begin ramping high-volume production later this year, and the first SKU is already slated to ship before the end of 2025. Broad market availability is expected in January 2026. The news more or less confirms that a full-on availability for Panther Lake "Core Ultra Series 3" devices is only expected in January next year, with further platforms arriving in the first quarter of 2026 as the ramp goes on.
While answering a question raised about Panther Lake laptops, Intel stated that it doesn't expect Panther Lake laptops to be paired with a discrete GPU; however, we have seen even Lunar Lake laptops coupled with discrete GPUs, so we can expect the same from Panther Lake solutions too, even if not in the early launch cycle.
As for some of the highlights of Intel Panther Lake "Core Ultra Series 3" CPUs:
- Lunar Lake-level power eƯiciency and Arrow Lake-class performance.
- Up to 16 new performance-cores (P-cores) and eƯicient-cores (E-cores) delivering more than 50% faster CPU performance vs. the previous generation.
- New Intel Arc GPU with up to 12 Xe cores delivering more than 50% faster graphics performance vs. the previous generation.
- Balanced XPU design for next-level AI acceleration with up to 180 Platform TOPS (trillions of operations per second).
We have already published various deep dives into the technologies powering Panther Lake "Core Ultra Series 3" CPUs, which you can check out below:
- Panther Lake Architecture Deep-Dive
- Xe3 Graphics Architecture Deep-Dive
- XeSS 3 With MFG For Panther Lake & Game Performance
- Hands-On With Intel 18A-Powered Panther Lake
With the power efficiency of Lunar Lake, performance of Arrow Lake, and boosted graphics and NPU capabilities, Intel's Panther Lake "Core Ultra Series 3" CPUs are all set to become a fantastic PC solution for a wide range of audiences.
Intel Mobility CPU Lineup:
| CPU Family | Panther Lake | Lunar Lake | Arrow Lake | Meteor Lake | Raptor Lake | Alder Lake |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process Node (CPU Tile) | Intel 18A | TSMC N3B | TSMC N3B | Intel 4 | Intel 7 | Intel 7 |
| Process Node (GPU Tile) | TSMC N3E / Intel 3 | TSMC N3B | TSMC 5nm | TSMC 5nm | Intel 7 | Intel 7 |
| CPU Architecture | Hybrid | Hybrid (Dual-Core) | Hybrid (Triple-Core) | Hybrid (Triple-Core) | Hybrid (Dual-Core) | Hybrid (Dual-Core) |
| P-Core Architecture | Cougar Cove | Lion Cove | Lion Cove | Redwood Cove | Raptor Cove | Golden Cove |
| E-Core Architecture | Darkmont | N/A | Skymont | Crestmont | Gracemont | Gracemont |
| LP E-Core Architecture (SOC) | Darkmont | Skymont | Crestmont | Crestmont | N/A | N/A |
| Top Configuration (Compute Tile) | 4+8 (H-Series) | 4+4 (MX Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 2+8 (U-Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 2+8 (U-Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 8+16 (HX-Series) | 6+8 (H-Series) 8+8 (HX-Series) |
| Max Cores / Threads | 16/16 | 8/8 | 14/14 | 14/20 | 14/20 | 14/20 |
| AI NPU | NPU5 (50 TOPS) | NPU4 (48 TOPS) | NPU3.5 (13 TOPS) | NPU3 (11 TOPS) | NPU2 (7 TOPS) | NPU2 (7 TOPS) |
| Planned Lineup | Core Ultra 300 | Core Ultra 200V | Core Ultra 200 | Core Ultra 100 | 14th/13th Gen | 12th Gen |
| GPU Architecture | Xe3-LPG (Battlemage) | Xe2-LPG (Battlemage) | Xe-LPG+ (Alchemist) | Xe-LPG (Alchemist) | Iris Xe (Gen 12) | Iris Xe (Gen 12) |
| Xe Cores (Max) | 12 Xe3 Cores | 8 Xe2 Cores | 8 Xe Cores | 8 Xe Cores | 96 EUs (768 Cores) | 96 EUs (768 Cores) |
| Memory Support | LPDDR5X-9600 | LPDDR5X-8533 | DDR5-5600 LPDDR5-7500 LPDDR5X-8533 | DDR5-5600 LPDDR5-7400 LPDDR5X - 7400+ | DDR5-5200 LPDDR5-5200 LPDDR5-6400 | DDR5-4800 LPDDR5-5200 LPDDR5X-4267 |
| Memory Capacity (Max) | 128 GB | 32 GB | 128 GB | 96 GB | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| Thunderbolt Support | TB5 | TB5 | TB5 | TB4 | TB4 | TB4 |
| WiFi Capability | WiFi 7 | WiFi 7 | WiFi 7 | WiFi 6E | WiFi 6E | WiFi 6E |
| TDP | 17-45W | 17-30W | TBD | 7W-45W | 15-55W | 15-55W |
| Launch | 2H 2025 | 2H 2024 | 2H 2024 | 2H 2023 | 1H 2023 | 1H 2022 |
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
