Intel Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” mobile chips pack up to 16 next-gen CPU cores and 12-core graphics

Intel is starting to reveal more details about its upcoming Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" chips for mobile devices. Unsurprisingly the company is promising big performance and efficiency gains – specifically we're told that Panther Lake chips combine the energy efficiency of Core Ultra 2 "Lunar Lake" processors with the performance of Core Ultra Series 2 "Arrow Lake" chips.

But what I find more interesting is how the company plans to divide up its Panther Lake mobile chips into three segments: 8-core chips with 4-core graphics, 16-core chips with 4-core graphics, and 16-core chips with 12-core graphics.

Intel hasn't announced specific chips yet, so we don't have any official details about model numbers, CPU frequencies, or prices, but recent leaks suggest that Intel will use the Core Ultra 3, 5, 7, and 9 brands for chips with 4-core graphics, while models with 10 or 12-core graphics will be branded as Core Ultra X5, X7, or X9 chips.

What we do know so far is that all of its new chips will feature a mix of Performance (P) CPU cores based on the company's new Cougar Cove architecture and more energy-efficient Efficiency (E) and/or low-power Efficiency (LPE) cores based on Darkmont architecture.

The chips also feature next-gen graphics based on Intel 's Xe3 GPU architecture, an updated image signal processor, and an updated NPU that delivers a slight performance boost, now topping out at 50 TOPS rather than 48 TOPS. But the new 5th-gen NPU takes up less physical space – Intel says there's been a 40% improvement in "TOPS per area."

While it'd be easy to conclude that the 8-core chips are the "worst" of the new processors, while the 16-core chips with 12-core graphics are the "best," the reality is a little more subtle. The 8-core chips will most likely consume less power while still offering strong single-core performance, which could make them a better fit for smaller computers.  And when it comes to the 16-core chips, models with 12-core graphics have fewer PCIe lanes than those with 4-core graphics and only support LPDDR5X memory (and not DDR5).

8-core16-core16-Core 12XeCPUUp to 8 cores4 x P-cores (Cougar Cove)4 x LPE-cores (Darkmont)Intel 18AUp to 16-cores4 x P-cores (Cougar Cove)8 x E-Cores (Darkmont)4 x LPE-cores (Darkmont)Intel 18AGraphicsUp to 4 Xe3 coresUp to 12 Xe coresNPUNPU 5Up to 50 TOPSRAMUp to LPDR5X-6800Up to DDR5-6400Up to LPDDR5X-8533Up to DDR5-7200Up to LPDDR5X-9600WirelessWiFi 7Bluetooth 6Thunderbolt / USBUp to 4 x Thunderbolt 5Up to 2 USB 3.2Up to 8 USB 2.0PCIe8 x PCIe Gen 44 x PC Ie Gen 58 x PCIe Gen 412 x PCIe Gen 58 x PCIe Gen 44 x PCIe Gen 5

Intel says its new Cougar Cove P-cores feature "AI-based power management," up to 18MP of shared L3 cache, and other improvements. When paired with Darkmont E and/or LPE cores, the company says users can expect:

40% lower power consumption at similar multi-threaded performance to previous-gen chips based on Intel Lunar Lake or Arrow Lake-H architecture

10% lower power consumption at similar single-threaded performance

50% better multi-threaded performance than Lunar Lake at similar power

30%

Meanwhile the chip maker says its new Xe3 GPU architecture should bring significant performance and efficiency improvements, including:

Up to 50% better overall performance than Intel Lunar Lake

Up to 40% better performance-per-watt than Intel arrow Lake-H

And because it wouldn't be a 2025 chip launch without a nod to AI, Intel wants you to know that these chips can support up to 180 TOPS of total AI performance when you factor in the NPU (50 TOPS), GPU (up to 120 TOPS), and CPU (up to 10 TOPS).

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