Exclusive: Intel Is Making Its Own Handheld Gaming PC Chips at CES 2026

Last year, Intel had the champion iGPU connected the market. This year, it’s breached that grounds by implicit 70% with Panther Lake and it's a immense triumph for handhelds.

“We’ve overdelivered” is however Intel CEO Lip Bu Tan categorized the Panther Lake motorboat during the company’s CES 2026 Keynote address, and that truly does look to beryllium the case. But the existent item of the keynote code wasn’t the engineering down Panther Lake, but alternatively the iGPU and the “handheld ecosystem” Intel is gathering to capitalize connected the iGPU’s show gains.

Formerly known arsenic the 12 Xe-core variant, the caller Intel Arc B390 iGPU offers up to 77% faster gaming show implicit Lunar Lake’s Arc 140V graphics chip. Intel’s VP and General Manager of PC Products, Dan Rogers elaborate the Arc B390’s show gains and announced a “whole ecosystem” of gaming handhelds. That ecosystem includes partnerships with MSI, Acer, Microsoft, CPD, Foxconn, and Pegatron. So we’ll yet spot much Intel handhelds deed the market.

Panther Lake’s iGPU is Truly Absurd

Back erstwhile Intel archetypal unveiled Panther Lake successful October, the chip’s gaming show was touted arsenic 50% amended than Lunar Lake, and 40% amended show per watt implicit Arrow Lake. However, astatine CES Intel upped that anticipation by a important margin. Not lone is Panther Lake’s Arc B390 up to 77% amended than Lunar Lake’s Arc 140V iGPU, it’s besides 73% amended connected mean than AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370’s RDNA 3.5 iGPU.

And it’s adjacent 10% amended than the RTX 4050 mobile. Sure, the RTX 5050 mobile does person a spot of an edge, but the Arc B390 is further impervious that iGPU gaming is punching well-above its value class.

Combined with Intel’s caller XeSS 3 bundle with 4x multi-frame generation, Panther Lake’s iGPU could precise good regenerate your old, retired of day desktop.

A Handheld-Exclusive CPU

Since Intel’s Core Ultra 300 Panther Lake spot is built connected Intel’s proprietary 18A Foundry process node, it tin beryllium chopped successful a assortment of antithetic dice slices.

According to sources astatine Intel adjacent to the matter, the institution is readying a hardware-specific variant oregon variants of the Panther Lake CPU die. Currently branded arsenic “Intel Core G3” these processors volition beryllium custom-built for handhelds. That means Intel tin spec the chips to connection amended show connected the GPU wherever you privation it, with imaginable for adjacent amended show than the existent Arc B390 expectations.

This is further denotation that Intel plans to thin heavy into the handheld gaming PC segment, which Intel archetypal hinted astatine past year. Combined with the “Handheld Ecosystem” announcement, this is simply a wide triumph for gamers.

The Real Winner is Gamers

The Intel Core G3 processors volition reap the afloat benefits of the caller Arc B390 iGPU, and Intel handhelds whitethorn yet beryllium a existent menace to AMD’s handheld leadership.

Intel has had a fewer handhelds implicit the past fewer years, but the archetypal MSI Claw was a notorious flop. The MSI Claw 8 AI+ and MSI Claw 7 AI+ were important improvements implicit the erstwhile generation, but they were the lone Intel handhelds disposable connected the US marketplace from a large brand. The Tencent Sunday Dragon 3D One was besides debuted past year, but it was an experimental plan that was ne'er fixed a afloat world-wide accumulation launch. A mentation of that handheld launched arsenic the Abxylute 3D One handheld, though it hardly made an interaction connected the handheld marketplace owed to mediocre reception.

While Intel had an aboriginal pb with the MSI Claw 8 AI+’s Arc 140V iiGPU performance, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X took the pb backmost for AMD with the caller Ryzen Z2 Extreme which was a large triumph for the Ryzen Z2 bid arsenic a whole. However, the Intel G3 could alteration things backmost successful Intel’s favor.

With Intel handhelds present being made by MSI and Acer with customized CPUs built conscionable for handhelds, AMD volition spot immoderate existent contention successful the gaming space. And whenever AMD and Intel person superior competition, the existent victor is gamers who get amended show from their hardware arsenic some companies propulsion each different to amended and amended heights.

Madeline (She/Her) is simply a contributing writer astatine IGN. She’s been penning astir comics, tech, and gaming since 2013. Her byline has appeared astatine sites similar Laptop Mag, PCMag, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, CGMagazine, and Bleeding Cool.