Intel's upcoming Panther Lake family will reportedly feature new "Core Ultra X" branding for fully-spec'd iGPU configs — Core Ultra 7 and 9 processors tipped to feature 12 Xe3 GPU cores

According to the company, Intel is set to share details of its Panther Lake lineup of mobile processors next week. Now, leaks are starting to seep out ahead of the reportedly imminent announcements. A few weeks ago, the name "Core Ultra X" started popping up in the rumor mill with reliable tipsters reporting on a potential new branding that Intel would adopt for Panther Lake. Up until now, we didn't have any concrete info on this, but new leaks from one of the most trusted leakers in the business, the oddly-named Golden Pig Upgrade, have just filled us in on the purported details.

Intel's Xe3 "Celestial" graphics IP will debut on Panther Lake with every SKU featuring integrated graphics. The models with the highest-spec'd iGPUs are what will reportedly be referred to as Core Ultra X. The "X" designation allegedly represents 12 Xe3 GPU cores, a major uplift from the 8 maximum Xe2-based cores we had on Lunar Lake. But that's the thing — Panther Lake is not a Lunar Lake successor because that featured on-package memory; Panther Lake supports externally-mounted RAM. That's probably why the model numbering on Panther Lake is also shifted around.

Speaking of which, Golden Pig Upgrade lists four SKUs: three with the Core Ultra X designation and one without. Apparently, only Core Ultra X9 and X7 are getting the full-fat 12 Xe3 GPU cores, while the Core Ultra 5 midrange offering will have, at best, 10 Xe3 cores. So, overall, Core Ultra X means 12 Xe3 cores; Core Ultra 3x8 means at least 10 Xe3 cores; and Core Ultra 3x6 means less than 10 Xe3 cores. In general, Panther Lake will introduce more CPU cores across the board as well, alongside improved iGPUs, as explained below.

Now, all that being said, there's a slight twist in this narrative. A new leak that surfaced from Chiphell just a couple of hours later actually detailed the entire lineup, consisting of 12 SKUs that will launch this year. From that leak, it appears that there is, in fact, a Core Ultra 5 SKU as well, but it still has those 10 Xe3 Cores we mentioned earlier. This may mean that the "X" designation isn't strictly exclusive to the 12-core club, but this is a leak after all, so we'll have to wait and see. Given the discrepancy in core configs below, perhaps "X" just broadly refers to a high GPU core count.

What's more interesting, however, is how the SKUs are actually named. Instead of the Core Ultra X7 or X9, the "X" appears to precede the model number itself — Core Ultra 9 X388H, for instance. There's rumored information on a lot more models, so we'll leave you with a table (at the end) that goes over it all. It doesn't really matter how Intel names these chips; at the end of the day, we're in for a seemingly powerful upgrade regardless. Especially when it comes to integrated graphics performance, a big generational jump (Xe2-LGP to Xe3-LPG), combined with the increased core count, should give us exciting results.

Panther Lake is expected to be fabricated on the company's homegrown 18A process, and will feature an expanded LP-E island, alongside the typical P-Cores (Cougar Cove) and E-Cores (Darkmont). Intel is looking for a spiritual successor to Lunar Lake, hoping to achieve similar efficiency (battery life) but without the niche novelty tied to that generation. The fact that they're reportedly combining the naming schemes of Core Ultra 200V and Core Ultra 200H (Arrow Lake-H) could be evidence of that, and it should be enough to keep the crowd fed till the real upgrade, Nova Lake, shows up next year.

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