Last year, Intel had the best iGPU on the market. This year, it’s broken that record by over 70% with Panther Lake and it’s a huge win for handhelds.

“We’ve overdelivered” is how Intel CEO Lip Bu Tan categorized the Panther Lake launch during the company’s CES 2026 Keynote address, and that really does seem to be the case. But the real highlight of the keynote speech wasn’t the engineering behind Panther Lake, but rather the iGPU and the “handheld ecosystem” Intel is building to capitalize on the iGPU’s performance gains.

Formerly known as the 12 Xe-core variant, the new Intel Arc B390 iGPU offers up to 77% faster gaming performance over Lunar Lake’s Arc 140V graphics chip. Intel’s VP and General Manager of PC Products, Dan Rogers detailed the Arc B390’s performance gains and announced a “whole ecosystem” of gaming handhelds. That ecosystem includes partnerships with MSI, Acer, Microsoft, CPD, Foxconn, and Pegatron. So we’ll finally see more Intel handhelds hit the market.

Panther Lake’s iGPU is Truly Absurd

Back when Intel first unveiled Panther Lake in October, the chip’s gaming performance was touted as 50% better than Lunar Lake, and 40% better performance per watt over Arrow Lake. However, at CES Intel upped that expectation by a significant margin. Not only is Panther Lake’s Arc B390 up to 77% better than Lunar Lake’s Arc 140V iGPU, it’s also 73% better on average than AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370’s RDNA 3.5 iGPU.

And it’s even 10% better than the RTX 4050 mobile. Sure, the RTX 5050 mobile does have a bit of an edge, but the Arc B390 is further proof that iGPU gaming is punching well-above its weight class.

Combined with Intel’s new XeSS 3 software with 4x multi-frame generation, Panther Lake’s iGPU could very well replace your old, out of date desktop.

A Handheld-Exclusive CPU

Since Intel’s Core Ultra 300 Panther Lake chip is built on Intel’s proprietary 18A Foundry process node, it can be cut in a variety of different die slices.

According to sources at Intel close to the matter, the company is planning a hardware-specific variant or variants of the Panther Lake CPU die. Currently branded as “Intel Core G3” these processors will be custom-built for handhelds. That means Intel can spec the chips to offer better performance on the GPU where you want it, with potential for even better performance than the current Arc B390 expectations.

This is further indication that Intel plans to lean heavily into the handheld gaming PC segment, which Intel first hinted at last year. Combined with the “Handheld Ecosystem” announcement, this is a clear win for gamers.

The Real Winner is Gamers

The Intel Core G3 processors will reap the full benefits of the new Arc B390 iGPU, and Intel handhelds may finally be a real threat to AMD’s handheld leadership.

Intel has had a few handhelds over the last few years, but the first MSI Claw was a notorious flop. The MSI Claw 8 AI+ and MSI Claw 7 AI+ were significant improvements over the previous generation, but they were the only Intel handhelds available on the US market from a major brand. The Tencent Sunday Dragon 3D One was also debuted last year, but it was an experimental design that was never given a full world-wide production launch. A version of that handheld launched as the Abxylute 3D One handheld, though it hardly made an impact on the handheld market due to poor reception.

While Intel had an early lead with the MSI Claw 8 AI+’s Arc 140V iiGPU performance, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X took the lead back for AMD with the new Ryzen Z2 Extreme which was a major win for the Ryzen Z2 series as a whole. However, the Intel G3 could change things back in Intel’s favor.

With Intel handhelds now being made by MSI and Acer with custom CPUs built just for handhelds, AMD will see some real competition in the gaming space. And whenever AMD and Intel have serious competition, the true winner is gamers who get better performance from their hardware as both companies push each other to better and better heights.

Madeline (She/Her) is a contributing writer at IGN. She’s been writing about comics, tech, and gaming since 2013. Her byline has appeared at sites like Laptop Mag, PCMag, TechRadar, Tom’s Guide, CGMagazine, and Bleeding Cool.