Intel has introduced its ‘Panther Lake’ Core Ultra Series 3 mobile processors, which are built on the 18A node and are positioned as a new mobile platform designed to maximize performance with a particular emphasis on integrated Arc graphics. The ‘Panther Lake’ lineup debuts the Arc B390 GPU, which features 12 Xe cores and is described as delivering up to 77% more performance compared to the previous generation ‘Lunar Lake’ Arc 140V iGPU. Intel supports these performance claims with internal comparisons not only against its own older hardware but also against competing integrated graphics solutions.
In head to head tests against non Intel graphics, Intel cites the AMD Radeon 890M and reports that its ‘Panther Lake’ solution outperforms AMD’s ‘Strix Point’ iGPU by about 73% with upscaling technologies and is 82% faster at native resolution. These figures are used to argue that, for handheld devices that rely heavily on iGPU performance, the ‘Panther Lake’ platform currently takes the lead in gaming capabilities. Intel further asserts that the new Arc B390 delivers performance that is comparable to NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4050 laptop GPU, which is a discrete chip, positioning the integrated solution as a serious option for thin and light gaming systems.
Alongside the main mobile lineup, Intel is also working on a separate handheld focused ‘Panther Lake’ SoC that is likely to use a different Arc B series SKU, rumored as Arc B380. This handheld oriented version is expected to prioritize power efficiency, potentially through special binning of the dies, while keeping the full 12 Xe cores configuration and slightly reducing clock speeds to offer similar performance at a much lower TDP. Intel says that many handheld manufacturers, including Acer, MSI, and GDP, have shown interest in adopting this SoC for upcoming designs, although some vendors are also expected to repurpose full laptop SoCs for handheld devices.
