Intel will lift the lid on its Panther Lake architecture in just over a month at CES 2026, but one of the brand’s new chips has already broken cover in the Geekbench database ahead of the trade show. The Core Ultra 300H series chip delivers impressive results, besting AMD competition in some respects and coming close to matching Strix Halo chips. Worse still for Team Red, this isn’t even Team Blue’s flagship.
The Geekbench entry concerns the Core Ultra 9 386H, a 16 (4P+8E+4LP) core processor with a base clock of 2.1GHz, boosting up to 4.9GHz. This is Intel’s second-best chip in its upcoming Panther Lake lineup, falling behind the Core Ultra X9 388H which features the same amount of cores but boasts a slightly higher frequency ceiling of 5.1GHz.
In Geekbench 6, the Core Ultra 9 386H accrues a single-core score of 2,845. That’s a phenomenal result for a mobile processor, slipping past Ryzen AI Max+ 395 which delivers 2,786 in the same test. That’s all the more impressive considering AMD’s processor has a higher boost clock, possibly pointing to greater efficiency in terms of IPC (instructions per cycle) from Intel.
Core Ultra 9 386H Multi-core performance is also impressive, scoring 15,407, but Intel does concede ground to AMD in this case as the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 pushes on to 17,636. However, it’s important to note that there’s a substantial TDP gap between the two chips, with Panther Lake topping out at 80W while Strix Halo can pull all the way up to 120W.
CPU performance looks undeniably strong on Panther Lake based on this result. However, I would love to see other Geekbench 6 entries materialise to strengthen the validity of these scores. For the moment, though, it seems Intel is continuing to find solid footing in the mobile space, following the success of Lunar Lake in laptops and handhelds.
While these benchmarks inspire confidence, there’s still the question of Intel’s Xe3 integrated graphics. Unfortunately, this Core Ultra 9 386H won’t shed light on this topic as it only boasts four Xe cores, while the likes of the Core Ultra X9 388H will boast triple that at 12 apiece.
If Intel can package potent processor performance with powerful graphics into an efficient SoC, then it could very well mark a shift in power within the mobile market. AMD is keeping RDNA 4 exclusive to desktop for the moment, meaning all Panther Lake need do is usurp RDNA 3.5 offerings like those found in the ROG Xbox Ally X.
Suffice to say, I’ll be watching for further leaks in the runup to CES 2026 with cautious optimism. Could this finally be Intel’s moment? Should the pin drop, you can expect coverage from Club386 so make sure you’re following the site’s Google News feed.
