According to renowned hardware leaker Jaykihn, who recently revealed on social media, Intel may be developing an affordable Panther Lake chip aimed at the handheld market. This chip will feature 4 Performance cores (P-cores), 0 Efficiency cores (E-cores), 4 Low-Power Efficiency cores (LPE cores), and most critically—only 4 Xe GPU cores.
This specification represents a significant downgrade compared to the Arc G3 series (10 Xe cores) and G3 Extreme (12 Xe cores) released by Intel earlier this year. The G3 series itself already streamlined CPU cores while retaining GPU core counts, aiming to provide strong graphics performance for handhelds. Dave, a review editor at PC Gamer, previously gave positive feedback after experiencing devices equipped with the G3 Extreme, believing that 12 Xe cores indeed perform excellently in small-sized handhelds.
The key issue is price. Over the past few months, overall handheld prices have risen sharply, with devices equipped with the G3 Extreme now matching the cost of mid-to-high-end gaming PCs.
Theoretically, if Intel launches a Panther Lake chip with only 4 Xe cores, it could significantly reduce processor costs, thereby driving down handheld prices. But the situation isn't optimistic—the current market isn't facing a processor shortage, but rather high prices for memory and storage. The AI boom continues to push up memory demand; even if chips are cheaper, handhelds still require expensive storage components.
Furthermore, the performance of its 4 Xe cores doesn't even match the Arc 140V (with 8 Xe2 cores) found in the previous generation Core Ultra 7 258V. However, the new chip will adopt the newer Xe3 architecture, meaning performance comparisons aren't a simple matter of "calculating by core count."
Overall, whether this chip can truly give rise to affordable and usable handheld devices hinges on the core question for 2026: pricing. Everythinggj will remain unclear until Intel's official announcement.