Panther Lake is officially Intel Core Ultra Series 3 — here’s how to understand all the new model names

Intel has a huge presence at the Consumer Electronics Show, and it makes sense — Intel's next-generation silicon will power millions of brand-new Windows laptops this year.

Those chips fall under the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 umbrella, which Intel officially unveiled at CES 2026. Previously known as "Panther Lake," the latest from Intel represents a massive leap forward for the company in performance, efficiency, graphics, and AI.

We already knew about all of that, though. I wrote extensively about all there is to know about Intel Core Ultra Series 3 late last year, so Intel is focusing on the branding and the newly announced laptops from its partners at CES. You can check Windows Central for the latest news on the latter; this article will explain everything you need to know about the former.

Naming is simplified, but can still be confusing

Intel Core Ultra Series 3 will be the Intel platform of choice for laptops, tablets, handhelds, mini PCs, and more for manufacturers in 2026, and it's all designed to be scalable and modular. Of course, Intel is also competing with AMD's new Ryzen AI 400 series and Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X2 series.

I won't deep dive into Panther Lake and why this generation is so big for Intel, but the focus on disaggregation means Intel can be a lot more flexible. Broadly speaking, Panther Lake is divided into three tiers: low core count, high core count, and high core count with a powerful GPU.

That flexibility also gave Intel an opportunity to somewhat simplify its naming with this latest generation. Intel Core Ultra Series 2 was actually split between the cutting-edge V-series Lunar Lake released in the first half of the year, and the more traditional H, HX, and U-series Arrow Lake released in the latter half of 2025; in 2026, it'll all be Panther Lake.

Intel will likely release more configurations as the year progresses, but right now, there are 14 confirmed Intel Core Ultra Series 3 SKUs. Here are some tips to navigate the new naming scheme.

• Intel Core Ultra Series 3 is still divided into the classic 5, 7, and 9 families, with each family going up in price, performance, and features. For example, the Core Ultra 5 322 would be found in entry-level, value-driven devices, while the Core Ultra 9 386H would be found in high-end laptops that need top-notch performance.
• Family numbers will be followed by a 300 number, with higher numbers usually notating faster clock speeds, more cache, or other improvements. For example, the Core Ultra 5 325 and Core Ultra 5 335 are both 8-core chips, but the latter is clocked higher.
• Within each family, you'll see no suffix or an H suffix, with the H suffix being for SKUs with higher core counts. For example, the Core Ultra 7 365 and Core Ultra 7 366H are very similar overall, but the former has 8 cores while the latter has 16 cores.
• It's worth mentioning that Intel has confirmed the HX suffix isn't dead, and will likely be used with even more powerful configurations for gaming laptops and high-end workstations later this year.
• Finally, Intel is introducing a new X prefix for its most powerful configurations with the latest 12-core Intel Arc B390 GPU. For example, there's the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, which you'll find in premium devices that don't have discrete GPUs.

It may seem confusing at first glance, but this is definitely a far more straightforward naming scheme than last year. If you're comparing the Intel Core Ultra 5 332 to the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, you can tell that the latter is a more capable, higher-end chipset with a powerful GPU and more CPU cores.

Stay tuned for more coverage on Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (especially as we actually begin getting these laptops in our hands).

What do you think about Intel Core Ultra Series 3? Is Intel onto a real winner with this generation? Let us know in the comments below!

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