There have been a number of new leaks recently about Intel’s upcoming Panther Lake processors for laptops. The latest leaks reveal some alleged chip configurations of the CPUs that will follow Lunar Lake (the next generation of mobile processors due out later in 2024).
Keep in mind this is just a rumor, but as posted by Jaykihn on X, there is a die configuration image plus some core counts of Panther Lake U-series (low-power) and H-series (high-performance) processors. The latter top-end CPU runs with 16 cores (4 performance, 8 efficiency, 4 low-power) and 12 Xe3 graphics cores (that’s Celestial – the successor to next-gen Battlemage, which is in Lunar Lake).
Panther LakePTL-U 4+0+4+4Xe 15WPTL-H 4+8+4+12Xe 25WPTL-H 4+8+4+4Xe 25WPTL-H 12Xe shown. Dies 4, 1, and 5 correspond to Compute, PCD, and Graphics (Xe3) respectively. The other two dies are passive. pic.twitter.com/iiZh5fYDMGJuly 15, 2024
Video cardz reports that the mobile model for Panther Lake with 12 Xe3 cores could be a P-series (instead of H), which would mean enthusiast-grade performance for slimmer laptops (which makes sense given the beefier integrated Celestial graphics, which are great for thin and light laptops). That info, incidentally, comes courtesy of another regular leaker on X, OneRaichu.
Either way, the core configurations seem to be correct, even if the exact details haven’t been nailed down yet – like the latest version of Moore’s Law is Dead. video also shipped this high-end Panther Lake CPU as a 4+8+4 configuration.
As for the low-end Panther Lake offering (U-series), that will be running with 4 performance cores and 4 low-power (no efficiency cores), and a 15W power envelope (as opposed to 25W for the other chips). It will apparently have 4 Xe3 graphics cores – but take all of this with a healthy dose of spice, as always.
Analysis: Intel’s Core Ultra 300 Duet
Panther Lake is expected to release later in 2025, likely a year after Lunar Lake lands (but possibly a little sooner – Intel has at least confirmed that Panther Lake chips are on track, and they’ve been turned on recently, too).
Panther Lake was previously thought to be a desktop and mobile-only release, but it’s now clear that it’s set to be the laptop-only successor to Lunar Lake, joining Intel’s Core Ultra 300 family next year.
The other side of Core Ultra 300, the desktop parts, will be Arrow Lake Refresh, which is exactly what the name suggests: a refresh of next-gen Arrow Lake. Again, that’s supposed to arrive a year after Arrow Lake, in late 2025 (probably).
So, we should have all these Core Ultra 300 CPUs to follow the next-gen models by the end of 2025. However, as with Lunar Lake, mass production of laptops running Panther Lake won’t start until the following year, in this case 2026.
Arrow Lake Refresh will likely be a relatively modest step forward, considering it’s merely a refresh – much like the current-gen Raptor Lake Refresh was hardly revolutionary – while Panther Lake will be a bigger step up. On top of the 3rd-gen Celestial graphics, we’re also going to see a seriously beefy NPU – Lunar Lake already hits the mark on the latter front, and with Panther Lake, Intel has already told us to expect up to double the AI performance.