On a device and hardware basis, especially on the PC gaming side, CES 2026 left us a bit cold. Nvidia didn't reveal any new consumer-grade GPUs this year, while AMD only had one gamer-centric CPU announcement - an incremental bump to the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. The show's pole position, then, went to Intel - and handily. Though Intel's focus at CES 2026 was the mobile-minded Panther Lake platform, portable and handheld PCs are arguably the future of mainstream devices - and Intel fearlessly let us put their new processors through a Digital Foundry-calibre barrage of testing. The results eclipse all expectations we brought with us to CES 2026 about integrated graphics.

Panther Lake is a chip package that comes in many configurations. Most Core Ultra 3 processors include 16 total CPU cores, divided between four performance cores, eight efficiency cores and four low-power efficiency cores. The exceptions are two lower-spec processors with eight total CPU cores. And all feature an NPU with around 50 TOPs.

The Panther Lake processors that include B390 GPUs - the Ultra X9 and Ultra X7 - include 12 Xe graphics cores and are advertised as comparable to a mobile Nvidia RTX 4050 in terms of graphics performance. The remaining processors come with an integrated "Intel Graphics" option with four Xe graphics cores. The number of PCIe lanes also varies. Panther Lake processors that are intended to be used with integrated graphics, including the top-end 12 Xe core variant, get the small platform controller tile with 12 PCIe lanes, while desktop replacement variants meant to be paired with discrete graphics get the large platform controller tile, which packs 20 lanes.

The Panther Lake compute tile, which contains the CPU cores, is built on Intel's new 2nm-class 18A process. This is one of the first products to ship on the new process, if not the first. The other tiles use a mix of processes: Intel 3 and TSMC N3E for different variants of the graphics tile, TSMC N6 for the platform controller tile, and an unknown process for the base tile that supports them.

Looking at the CPU release list, there are different sizes of compute tiles, GPUs and platform controller dies that differentiate Panther Lake U, Panther Lake H and - what we're focused on today - the next-generation mobile platform that is Panther Lake H 12 Xe.

At the second of two Intel-hosted events at CES 2026, Digital Foundry was given free reign to test a "reference design" laptop from Lenovo, with an apparently maxed-out iGPU along with 32GB of DDR5 RAM clocked at 9,600 MT/s. Intel asked our CES panel to withhold CPU-specific testing until we receive final, retail Panther Lake hardware at a later date. GPU-intensive testing, on the other hand, was fair game.

Cyberpunk 2077 made sense as a GPU-pounding test - one that we're surprised Intel let us push on an iGPU of all things - so we ran CP77's built-in benchmark sequence at the ultra graphics preset with RT reflections and sun shadows enabled.

The same tests as run on AMD Strix Point and AMD Strix Halo devices, all running at a 65W power maximum (probably aligned with the Panther Lake reference platform) show a generally repeatable result. Intel's latest doubles performance of our top-end Strix Point APU, while the Strix Halo part exceeded Panther Lake by 21-24 percent. These performance gulfs were similar whether running the benchmark at native 1080p, with equivalent "2x2" upscaling - XeSS Balanced and FSR 3 Performance - or with upscaling combined with 2x frame-generation. Technically, the Strix Halo numbers in the latter test are capped by a 120fps v-sync on Strix Halo and could thus possibly enjoy a higher frame-rate gap compared to Panther Lake.

Still, we're left with Panther Lake turning in something close to a 30fps line for CP77 without any upscaling while rendering at a desktop-class preset - complete with RT that's arguably a cherry-on-top visual flourish, not a visual-character requirement of the game. Add decent-looking upscaling, and that result hovers close to a 60fps line. Go further and add XeSS's 2x frame-generation to exceed 90fps while looking quite good. All thanks to an integrated GPU!

We're less convinced that results from 3x and 4x frame-generation systems make sense for portable-minded displays, which typically max out at roughly 120Hz, but that support is there and could support interesting future-proofed frame-rate options down the line for Intel-powered handheld PCs. Additionally, in the handheld market, XeSS as an upscaler while running on dedicated Intel silicon offers superior image quality to either XeSS's AMD-compatible DP4A model or AMD's own FSR - a significant perk for anyone buying a new handheld PC.

Our next test revolved around Doom: The Dark Ages' ultra preset at 1080p resolution without any upscaling - which, as we've covered, requires RT functionality to operate. The results of our "Siege" benchmark tests are similar to our CP77 findings. The Panther Lake laptop doubled Strix Point's frame-rate, reaching a 33.33fps average, while the Strix Halo performance was 30 percent higher than Panther Lake.

Our final benchmark run, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, was also run at 1080p resolution with RT shadows set to "ultra" and other settings set to "highest." Performance varied between its three segments enough to raise our eyebrows at some Panther Lake performance dips, but we once again found a similar performance divide in its most gameplay-like middle segment, where Panther Lake doubled Strix Point on an average fps basis, while Strix Halo ran 32.4 percent faster than Panther Lake.

After finishing these comparisons of mobile-minded APUs, we went back to run the same three games' 1080p benchmarks - at the same RT-enabled, "ultra" presets - on two entry-level desktop GPUs: the AMD RX 6600, which can be found for under $200, and the Nvidia RTX 3050, which isn't necessarily as affordable but is the lowest-end RTX GPU currently available for purchase.

Compared to Panther Lake, each desktop GPU ran no more than 14 percent faster than Intel's B390 iGPU, with the exception of the RTX 3050 enjoying a notable 27 percent lead over Panther Lake when each respective GPU's native upscaling solution was enabled. There's also the matter of some of Shadow of the Tomb Raider's individual benchmark segments somewhat hobbling Panther Lake compared to the competition, but again, its middle benchmark sequence (closest to actual gameplay) was only bested by our AMD and Nvidia entry-level GPU choices by as much as 12 percent.

Beyond the frame-rate and frame-time graphs, we also must note that XeSS frame-generation at a 4x multiplier has looked quite impressive, enough so that on-site with Intel's reference laptop, we couldn't tell via artefacts or other visual tells how many frames are being generated. And as we noted, XeSS on native Intel GPUs is superior on an image quality basis compared to options that are compatible with Strix Halo - which arguably means you'll get better image quality on a Panther Lake device than a Strix Halo one, even if we consider the performance lead Strix Halo has enjoyed in today's benchmarks.

We're left wondering if or when AMD will ship SoCs that support the newer FSR 4 upscaling standard, or otherwise refresh its SoC line to advance at the same rate that we're seeing from Intel - and CES 2026 was far from exciting from AMD on a hardware-reveal level. The firm announced Gorgon Point, which is effectively a re-spun and refined Strix Point. It'll be better than the results seen here, but not to any dramatic degree. We get the idea that proper next-gen APUs from AMD may well jump ahead to RDNA 5 - we'll just have to see.

Thus, we're left impressed with Intel's showing. Still, what we've tested thus far doesn't directly answer how well Panther Lake iGPUs scale to power limits in the 30W range - a much better fit for handhelds. And more glaring is the lack of pricing information at this point: might we see prices comparable to Strix Halo devices, thus revising our impressions altogether? Or can Intel find the sweet pricing spot to land a competitive blow? We hope to get more hands-on time with the Panther Lake line-up soon.