2nm is here! Intel releases its third-generation Ultra processor, and even the integrated graphics can run Battlefield | CES 2026

Since Lunar Lake, it seems like Intel hasn't had any major news for quite some time.

But quietness doesn't mean there's nothing to do. Just now at the Intel CES 2026 press conference in Las Vegas, we saw the first major new product from the "Blue Factory" after more than a year of dormancy - the Intel Core Ultra Series 3, which belongs to the Panther Lake family.

The key point is that this is the first processor product manufactured using Intel's latest 18A process technology.

As mentioned in the article by iFanr about their visit to the Intel factory in October, the 18A process ingeniously solves some traditional challenges in processor manufacturing with the help of RibbonFET and PowerVia solutions, achieving a dual improvement in transistor density and energy efficiency compared to the previous Intel 3 process.

This directly translates into the main enhancements of the Core Ultra Series 3. According to Jim Johnson, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Computing Group, "In the Series 3, we focus on improving energy efficiency, increasing CPU performance, equipping it with a larger GPU compared to similar products, and leveraging the rich AI computing capabilities and software compatibility brought by the x86 architecture.".

At this CES, Intel highlighted the significant improvements of the Core Ultra Series 3.

For example, the latest processor for mobile devices (notebook products), Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, is the top-tier SKU in the current Core Ultra series. It is equipped with 16 CPU cores, 12 GPU cores, an NPU computing power of 50 TOPS, and up to 96GB of LPDDR5 memory. Compared to the Core Ultra Series 2 processor based on the Lunar Lake architecture, the latest Panther Lake series products can achieve a core performance improvement of up to 60%.

Coupled with the redesign of the core architecture using 18A technology, the reduced voltage requirements and improved performance and efficiency per core have made the new processors unveiled at CES highly suitable for mobile work ecosystems, while also keeping heat generation within a reasonable range.

In this way, the newly added energy-efficient cores (E-cores) of the Core Ultra Series 3 come into play. According to Intel's live demonstration, the power consumption of the new processor during 4K streaming media playback is only one-third of the previous generation, which is expected to improve the battery life of laptops from "hours" to "days".

In addition, the Core Ultra Series 3 X9 and X7 announced this time not only boast more explosive performance and greener energy efficiency, but also feature the brand-new Arc B390 graphics card, which is indeed the 12Xe integrated graphics card that has been repeatedly leaked before the debut of Panther Lake.

In addition to 12 Xe GPU cores, the Arc B390 also features 12 Enhanced Ray Tracing Units and 96 XMX AI accelerators, achieving 12 TOPS of GPU AI computing power on a single integrated card. Regarding performance improvements, Intel announced at the CES event that compared to the Arc 140V graphics card integrated into the Core Ultra 9 288V of Lunar Lake, the new Arc B390 achieved a 77% improvement in gaming performance and a 53% improvement in AI performance.

In addition, Arc B390's performance not only represents a significant improvement compared to Lunar Lake, but also directly surpasses that of AMD's neighboring products.

Intel claims that compared to Radeon, which has similar power consumption and video memory, the Arc B390 can achieve an average of 70% more frames per second, and in some games, the frame rate even reaches twice that of AMD.

At the same time, leveraging the new technology of XeSS 3, Intel has also integrated a series of upgraded graphics capabilities on the Arc B390, which Intel collectively refers to as Modern Rendering.

These include improved global illumination and ray tracing, ultra-high-resolution details, as well as the ultimate enhanced frame interpolation technology - Multi-Frame Generation (MFG).

According to Intel's statement at the launch event, the new Arc graphics card equipped in the Panther Lake series will be the world's first "integrated graphics card to support multi-frame AI generation immediately after launch". When paired with XeSS 3, it can generate 3 frames of compensation images for every 1 frame rendered, significantly enhancing the gaming experience on laptops.

For example, with the "Overkill" graphics setting in Battlefield 6, the original frame generation technology of XeSS can increase the average frame rate from 29 FPS to 57 FPS.

After enabling the MFG (Multi-Frame Generation) feature in XeSS 3, the average frame rate can reach approximately 150 FPS. Additionally, the images generated at a 1:3 ratio exhibit almost no negative effects, making it highly usable.

Such performance is quite impressive for ultrabooks, but interestingly, Intel's goal this year is not limited to ultrabooks.

At the conference, Intel also mentioned that it will collaborate with a group of partners to launch a series of gaming handheld devices based on low-power x86 platforms this year. It seems that Steam's entry into the market has not ended the console wars, but merely shifted the battleground from the original three major console manufacturers to PC x86.

It's just a pity that Intel didn't announce more specific roadmaps for handheld devices based on Panther Lake and Arc B390 graphics cards. However, according to the speculations of the partners seen from the on-site keynote, the handheld devices envisioned by Intel should still be those equipped with the Windows kernel, and won't adopt a customized system.

Perhaps with the "powerful combination" of the 18A, Series 3 core cluster design, and Arc graphics card, the fatal issue of Windows handheld devices not being able to suspend will hopefully be alleviated. The Win handheld devices, which have been suppressed by SteamDeck for many years, will finally usher in a prosperous day.

In addition, in the direction of AI PC, Intel has also updated many strategic plans and ideas.

For the Panther Lake product line, Intel once again emphasized the theory of "edge computing" at the conference, focusing on "end-cloud collaboration" and bringing many upgrades to the local AI computing power of the Core Ultra Series 3.

For example, in addition to the AI acceleration upgrades of the new Core Ultra X9, X7, and Ultra 5, Intel also announced at the CES event that it will align with this year's PC release schedule and accelerate the launch of products using the 18A process for the edge computing market, with extreme temperature, reliability, and long-term lifecycle support as the main design considerations.