Smart home device manufacturer Aqara is showing its new Smart Lock U400 at CES. It’s among the first devices of its kind to combine Apple Home Key technology with an Ultra-wideband (UWB) radio to deliver hands-free unlocking when an authorized user approaches the door. Provided you’re wearing your Apple Watch or your iPhone is in your pocket, purse, or backpack, you won’t need to touch the deadbolt to unlock it (compatibility with other smart devices is promised down the road). The trick is made possible by an UWB radio inside the lock, along with support for Matter-over-Thread, although it will also require you to have a Thread-enabled Matter controller inside your home. For Apple Home Key users, that means an Apple TV or HomePod. Using its UWB radio, the Aqara U400 measures time-of-flight (the precise time it takes for a radio signal to travel between the lock and your smart device) and angle-of-arrival (the direction of that radio signal) to determine your location with accuracy down to the centimeter. This ensures that the lock will only open when an authorized user is outside the home approaching the door and not simply walking past it or while they’re inside the house. Family members who don’t use Apple Wallet can unlock the Smart Lock U400 with Aqara’s app for iOS or Android, with a PIN code, fingerprint, or physical key.Aqara Aqara says this approach offers better security since UWB technology is more resistant to relay attacks than Bluetooth-only proximity systems. A built-in gyroscope enables automatic locking once the door is closed, helping prevent homeowners from accidentally leaving their door unlocked. Power comes from a 7.3V rechargeable lithium-ion battery rated for up to six months of use per charge under typical conditions. If the battery runs out, the lock can be temporarily powered via USB-C from a phone or power bank for emergency unlocking. If you’re not an Apple user, Aqara says it will add support for devices that use Samsung Wallet later in the first quarter of 2026. The Aqara Smart Lock U400 also supports tap-to-unlock via Near-field Communication (NFC, via a smartphone or an Aqara key card), as well as with the lock’s fingerprint scanner; personal codes entered on its PIN pad (including one-time and scheduled access); mobile apps; voice control through Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Siri; or a conventional mechanical key. The Aqara Smart Lock U400 It uses a standard 60/70mm deadbolt and supports door thicknesses from 35mm to 55mm, making it compatible with most U.S. residential doors. The exterior keypad panel carries an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, meaning that the lock is dustproof and can withstand being sprayed with water jets (short of a pressure washer). The Aqara Smart Lock U400 is available now for $269.99 at Amazon or Aqara’s e-commerce site in silver or black (satin nickel and “shadow” black finishes are also promised). This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks. Read...

Better known for its smart TVs than its smart home products, TCL has nonetheless impressed us with its highly affordable smart locks. At CES today, the company announced an upgraded version of its TCL D2 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock and the entirely new TCL D2L Fingerprint Lever Lock. Both locks feature Matter-over-Thread support and ANSI/BHMA Grade 3 certification (those are the upgrades to the D2 Pro). TCL D2 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock TCL When we reviewed the first-generation TCL D2 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock in September 2025, we praised its ease of installation and the speed with which it unlocked upon recognition of enrolled palms. TCL says this second-generation model is even faster, thanks to local AI learning that also improves the palm vein scanner’s accuracy. Meanwhile, the new lock’s support for Matter-over-Thread should both increase its smart home ecosystem support and increase its battery life compared to the Wi-Fi radio in the original model. On that note, TCL says the D2 Pro will operate for up to 8 months on a single charge. TCL didn’t publish ANSI or BHMA certifications for its earlier lock, but it says this new model is certified BHMA Grade 3. That actually means it’s rated ANSI Grade 3, and while that’s the lowest of the three ANSI grades, that standard is for commercial locks (BHMA certification is for residential locks). So, the new D2 Pro should prove to be very durable. TCL D2L Fingerprint Lever Lock TCL If your door uses a lever lock instead of—or in addition to—a deadbolt, the TCL D2L Fingerprint Lock features an integrated fingerprint reader that’s positioned so you can grip the handle with your thumb on the scanner, and then lift up or down to open the door. TCL says its biometric technology can recognize an authorized fingerprint in just 0.3 seconds. Matter-over-Thread support endows TCL’s new lever lock with even better battery life than its new smart deadbolt: up to 12 months on a charge. The TCL D2L Fingerprint Lever Lock is likewise certified BHMA Grade 3, and it features Matter-over-Thread support for broad compatibility with smart home ecosystems, including Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. TCL has not yet published prices for either the D2 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock and D2L Fingerprint Lever Lock, but says both smart locks should be available for purchase in the second quarter of 2026. This news story is part of TechHive’s ind-depth coverage of the best smart locks. Read...

If you’re into the Mac mini aesthetic, Satechi has something for you: a new Thunderbolt 5 dock with the same dimensions as Apple’s mini computer. The Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock with SSD Enclosure isn’t cheap. It will retail for $399.99 and ship during the first quarter of 2026, the company said here at CES 2025. Satechi is pairing it with its own $39.99 Thunderbolt 5 Pro cable, which will connect the dock to your laptop. As the name suggests, the CubeDock includes an M.2 slot for inserting an SSD. (Dock makers have said that this was part of the original Thunderbolt 5 reference design Intel circulated, the reason why many other dock makers have gone this route.) It can be a real plus, however, as inserting an SSD (which you’ll have to supply) into the slot can offer I/O speeds that an external USB SSD can’t match. (In this case, PCIe 4×4 with up to 8TB of capacity at 6000 MB/s.) Of course, SSD prices continue to head up sharply from where they were in the last weeks of 2025, so it’s not clear whether that SSD will be an investment you’re willing to make. The other question is whether Thunderbolt 5 will be a viable option, given that it’s not natively supported in the upcoming Intel “Panther Lake” mobile platform or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite. AMD, expected to announce its next “Gorgon Point” processor platform for laptops, hasn’t said either. Satechi’s Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock with SSD Enclosure just has that Mac mini vibe.Satechi This would be the second year that Thunderbolt 5 would be left as an additional option for PC laptop makers to add rather than being built in. Thunderbolt 5 takes the 40Gbps of Thunderbolt 3/4 and ups it to 80Gbps, with an option to go to 120Gbps in a single direction under certain circumstances. It’s the future of Thunderbolt laptop docking stations, though Thunderbolt 4 is the key PC technology for now. Instead, Thunderbolt 5 has been built into the Mac mini and MacBook Pro powered by Apple’s M4 chip, making Satechi’s choice a smart one, aesthetically. Photos of the dock supplied by Satechi show the new CubeDock with roughly the same dimensions as the Mac mini, and with the same silvery color scheme. Ports sprout from the front and back of Satechi’s dock. On the front are a 10Gbps USB-A port and a 10Gbps USB-C port, along with UHS-II SD/microSD slots, a headphone jack, and a power button. On the rear are 2.5Gbps Ethernet, a 10Gbps USB-A port, another 10Gbps USB-C port, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, and a fourth Thunderbolt 5 port connect to your laptop. The rear also includes a Kensington lock and the power port, which accepts 180W and delivers 140W to your notebook and 30W to attached peripherals like smartphones. Satechi’s Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock with SSD Enclosure has a USB-C and USB-A ports on the front…Satechi Each Thunderbolt 5 port (which will require a dongle or adapter if your displays don’t support USB-C or Thunderbolt) can drive three 8K60 displays or three 4K displays at 144Hz. The bottom of the dock pops off to allow you to insert the SSD. There’s grillwork on the sides and rear of the aluminum chassis to allow for airflow, which is pushed through with an active cooling system. The Satechi Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock with SSD Enclosure also includes support for three 4K displays at high refresh rates.Satechi Satechi’s dock isn’t cheap, but Mac vibes rarely are. Read...

Segway is taking its robot lawn mowers to a space they’ve never been before—the commercial market—as it tees up its updated Navimow-brand models at CES in Las Vegas this week.  Segway’s new Terranox series will be the first of the company’s commercial-oriented robot mowers, capable of covering up to six acres of grass, while the flagship X4 residential mower will arrive with four-wheel drive, improved navigation, and the ability to tackle steeper slopes.  In all, Segway is showing off five new lines of its Navimow robot lawn mowers, from the budget i2 series with LiDAR navigation to the commercial-grade Terranox Series, which boasts network RTK (real-time kinematic) positioning, a 360-degree VSLAM camera, and turf-safe Xero-Turn technology.  Slated to arrive later this year (Segway hasn’t revealed pricing yet), the Terranox Series comes in two models: the CM120M1, which can cover up to three acres of lawn, and the CM240M1, which will tackle up to six acres of territory, or roughly the size of a football field.  Both Terranox mowers will offer four-wheel drive as well as a suite of drop-and-mow navigations technologies, including tri-frequency network RTK, a 360-degree VSLAM camera, and VIO (visual-inertial odometry), good for pinpointing its position within centimeters and without the need for perimeter wires or antenna reference stations  The flagship X4 ($2,499 for the 1-acre X430, $2,999 for the 1.5-acre X450) takes the Terranox’s four-wheel drive and navigational features while also adding Segway’s MowMentum Cutting System, which boasts a dual-cutting deck, 12 thickened cutting blades, and twin 180-watt cutting mowers, all combined with a smart cutting algorithm and the brand’s EdgeSense technology.   Segway The IPX6-rated X4 (meaning the robot is resistant to rain, lawn sprinklers, water splashes, and wet grass) will have an 84-percent slope capability, good for climbing slopes up to 40 degrees, and it’s also designed to scale steps up to 2.8 inches high. VisionFence 2.0 tech will allow the X4 to detect and avoid roughly 200 types of objects, from pets to swings, while its turf-safe Xeno-Turn functionality helps the mower to make tight turns without tearing up the grass.  Available in 0.25- and 0.5-acre models, the three-wheel drive H2 Series (no pricing details yet) employs a combination of LiDAR, network RTK, and RGB vision technology for navigation, allowing the unit to find its way under trees or through narrow passages even at night, while the LiDAR-powered Terrain Adapt and Electronic Stability Control functionality keep the mower balanced on inclines as steep as 24 degrees.  Segway Next up is the i2 AWD Series, which is getting the X2’s Xero-Turn capabilities as well as the ability to climb 24-degree slopes and 1.6-inch steps. The robot’s adaptive drive technology, which only engages the unit’s third wheel when the additional traction is  needed, is designed to boost battery life by up to 30 percent, while LiDAR and network RTK are also on board. Segway The i206 AWD model ($999) will offer a coverage area of 0.15 acres, while the i210 AWD ($1,299) expands that coverage range to 0.25 acres.  Finally, the two-wheel drive i2 LiDAR (pricing is TBD) navigates and avoids obstacles via a combination of solid-state LiDAR and AI-powered vision, and it promises a range of up to 0.37 acres.  All the new Navimow robot lawn mowers will support GeoSketch, a mapping feature on the Navimow app that allows users to customize mowing areas on a 3D interactive map, while Find My functionality will let Apple users locate the robots.  This article is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best robot lawn mowers. Read...

One of the most exciting PC trends overall this decade is the rise of gorgeous OLED monitors. They’ve steadily improved year after year, delivering ever-more-luscious visuals at ever-increasing speeds, and during CES 2026, LG revealed a slew of new OLED panels designed to drive gaming fidelity even further. Note that I said panels, not monitors; as a panel supplier, these LG displays will wind up in monitors from other vendors as well as LG’s own goodies. And as a panel supplier, LG is doubling down on OLED. OLED has been under attack from the rise of RGB mini-LED panels that build upon existing LCD technology, for better or worse. LCD and OLED behave in very different ways, and LG’s new Tandem WOLED and Tandem OLED technologies (its first new OLED brands in 13 years!) push the advantage even further. Tandem WOLED will appear in larger displays, like TVs and PC monitors, while Tandem OLED targets smaller devices like laptops, tablets, and automotive displays. I’m a thirsty, disgusting gamer so for this article, let’s focus on Tandem WOLED. Officially called “Primary RGB Tandem 2.0,” Tandem WOLED can hit up to a whopping 4,500 nits in peak form, or 1,500 nits in PC monitors. A nit is equivalent to the brightness of a single candle, and we prefer that laptops hit 250 to 300 nits (or more) for optimal viewing, so that 1,500 nits is a big number — and one you can instantly feel and appreciate witnessing the technology in action. New “Perfect Black Anti-Reflection” tech “offers the world’s lowest reflectance of 0.3%,” ensuring a crisp picture even in bright conditions. Even better, Tandem WOLED supports 99.5% DCI-P3 coverage, an industry term that means its color accuracy is indeed insanely color accurate. The ”WOLED” comes from an additional white light source, joining the usual RGB trio. “By precisely stacking RGB light sources in tandem, it creates pure white light and picture quality that nears perfection — blacks deepen, colors stay naturally true in any environment,” LG says. After seeing it in action, I have to say I agree! OLED vs. Mini LED LG drove home the point in several discrete demos comparing an “affordable” OLED TV against a rival mini LED television. Mini LED uses standard LCD technology, with roughly 1,500 “block-dimming” chunks spread across the screen; OLED can turn each of the 33 million+ pixels in a 4K display on and off independently. It makes a huge difference. The mini LED still looked a lot better than most people’s TVs, but it suffered from color inaccuracy and other issues next to LG’s Tandem WOLED. Since mini LED (and all LCD panels) only dim colors in blocks, images can be affected by surrounding colors; you can witness “bloom” lightening effects around fireworks, and nearby colors affecting the look of people’s skin or supposedly white areas. None of those appeared in LG’s Tandem WOLED panels. To be fair, these were mostly canned test demos to show extremes, but those extremes do happen, and the results largely aligned with my prior experiences with mini LED and LCD displays. Sadly, I wasn’t able to capture convincing pictures of the comparison, since the visual nitpicks on the display can’t be captured by my camera. But trust me: You have to see it to believe it. LG’s boundary-pushing OLED panels At CES 2026, LG announced three boundary-pushing new Tandem WOLED panels to push the advantage. First, there’s a 27-inch gaming OLED capable of hitting a blistering 720HZ at 1080p resolution, or 540HZ at 1440p resolution — ludicrous speeds. This isn’t actually “new” though — the panel already debuted in Asus’ ROG Swift OLED PG27AQWP-W (pictured above) late last year, which knocked our socks off in our review. It earned 4.5 (out of 5) stars and an Editors’ Choice award. “The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQWP-W pulls out all the stops to deliver best-in-class motion performance and a long list of bonus features,” our synopsis says. Enough said! Well, not really — read our full review for a deeper look at the underlying tech, and how it handles in the ROG Swift. World’s first OLED with a 240Hz RGB stripe pixel structure LG also showed off an OLED panel with the world’s first 240Hz RGB stripe pixel structure. “RGB stripe structure arranges the three primary color subpixels in a straight line, significantly reducing the visual distortions that can happen at close viewing distances,” LG’s press deck states. It “enables highly detailed and crisp graphic reproduction at 160 pixels per inch.” That’s a lot of geek talk. Let me break it down for you. OLED panels have a flaw that’s not always talked about. Yes, the deep blacks and vivid colors look amazing while gaming or watching videos — but the technology often reproduces on-screen text less precisely. Called “fringing,” text on OLED monitors can sometimes appear somewhat blurry and distorted depending on the implementation. I covered this in-depth in my review of the Corsair Xeneon Flex (which used an LG OLED panel) in 2023, and you can see an example of text fringing from that very monitor below. All those nerd words LG used to describe what “240Hz RGB stripe pixel structure” does basically say that text looks way less sucky. LG says this panel is “Optimized for operating systems such as Windows as well as font-rendering engines, ensuring excellent text readability and high color accuracy.” LG showed off the monitor using a world-building game with lots of text, complete with a magnifier hooked up to the display to show how the RGB subpixel display looks IRL. Fortunately, I was able to get a glimpse of a real world monitor with this panel over at Asus’ booth. Considering that Asus also helped debut those 720Hz/540Hz OLED monitors late last year, I guess Asus and LG are BFFs! Here’s a picture of the just-announced Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCWM, using LG’s new panel. The system was fairly locked down but I was able to summon the right-click context menu to get a peek at the text fringing advancements, and welp, it looked significantly better than most rival OLEDs. The panel uses LG’s Dynamic Frequency and Resolution (DFR) tech to run at 240Hz at 4K or 480Hz at 1080p. Look for monitors with this new panel to arrive sometime in Q2. LG’s 39-inch ‘5K2K’ gaming OLED 4K? Ha! That’s so yesterday. Acer and LG are making 5K gaming monitors the hot new flex at CES 2026. For LG, that means the introduction of the world’s first 39-inch 5K gaming OLED, with a standard 21:9 aspect ratio and 1500R curvature. There’s not really much more to say beyond that, but hot damn did it look luscious in real life — huge, wide, and utterly packed with high-quality OLED pixels galore. Once these monitors launch in Q2, you’ll want to head down to a Best Buy or Microcenter to check them out with your own eyes — they’re that damned gorgeous. I’m willing to review one of these, just sayin’ LG. Stay tuned to PCWorld (and our live blog) for all the hottest CES 2026 news all week long! Read...

The chip giant is partnering with Mercedes-Benz to launch a driverless car powered by its `Alpamayo` tech. Read...

Gamers, 2025 was a year that drove high-fidelity graphics at high frame rates and lofty resolutions to new heights. Last year, we witnessed the release of the first 4K, 240HZ monitors ever – a feat that earned MSI’s model “best accessory” nod in our annual Full Nerd awards – and the introduction of Nvidia’s magical DLSS 4 Multi-Frame Generation, which unlocked the capability to hit those speeds on high-end GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs. At CES 2026, Nvidia is bringing those capabilities to more affordable graphics cards. Meet DLSS 4.5. Whereas DLSS 4 can insert up to four AI-generated frames between every GPU-rendered frame to quadruple frame rates, DLSS 4.5 amps that up to 6x thanks to a new “Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation” feature. It shouldn’t add much additional latency over standard 1x frame gen thanks to the way the underlying technology works – and it could let more modest RTX 50-series cards like the RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti max out those spiffy 4K, 240Hz displays now available. That’s not all. DLSS 4.5 includes enhanced AI training for extended failure modes (which should hopefully mean fewer visual artifacts), a new 2nd generation “transformer” model with enhanced visuals, and better image quality all around. The proof will be in the pudding, but if DLSS 2, 3, and 4’s success is anything to go by, the pudding could be mighty delicious indeed. DLSS 4.5 improves how the AI model handles temporal stability, ghosting, and anti-aliasing, which you can see if you zoom in on the images below – all welcome additions. The new 6x Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation wraps in the utterly delightful and woefully unheralded “GPU flip metering” feature that debuted in DLSS 4. That means your GPU is in control of handling the image output timing to your monitor, delivering frames at a consistent pace. This unsung gem makes games look and feel so much smoother than native. Star Wars Outlaws is notorious for its, uh, uneven technical performance, but will DLSS 4 enabled, it feels just as buttery as Doom 2016. The technology is that damned good! Hilariously, Nvidia used the ferocious RTX 5090 flagship to illustrate its claims. Why is it so funny? Because as the Nvidia-supplied graph below shows, the RTX 5090 can already hit 240Hz on 4K monitors even with vanilla 4x frame gen even in path traced games. Dynamic MFG’s 6x capabilities only help it blast past those levels – and past the refresh rate of even the most advanced 4K 240Hz monitors. But again, that’s a good thing – faster is (almost always) better, and Dynamic MFG’s prowess should unlock killer performance on more modest 5070-class GPUs at 4K. My body is ready. Over 400 games will support DLSS 4.5, though you’ll need to tune settings for many of those in the Nvidia app. The second-gen Transformer Super Resolution feature (and all the image enhancements it provides) are available now for all RTX GPUs – not just the latest ones – while Dynamic Multi-Frame Gen is expected to hit RTX 50-series cards alone sometime this spring. Multi-frame gen requires dedicated hardware that prior GeForce generations lack. Read...

Nvidia didn’t reveal any new graphics cards at CES 2026, but the company didn’t show up at the show empty handed. Not only did Team Green reveal DLSS 4.5, an advanced new form of its industry-leading graphics upscaling and frame generation technology, but it also introduced a new breed of esports-focused gaming monitors. Meet G-Sync Pulsar. G-Sync Pulsar brings a standardized set of features to esports monitors. Pulsar-certified panels will need to be 27-inches, with 1440p resolution and blistering 360Hz refresh rates; hit 1000Hz+ “perceived motion clarity with VRR;” and include Nvidia’s G-Sync Variable Overdrive and new Ambient Adaptive Technology features. Basically, they’re all but guaranteed to melt your socks off — and make blurry visuals in fast-paced games a thing of the past. These could be the ultimate in motion clarity. Nvidia’s G-Sync Pulsar technology is reminiscent of the company’s awesome “Ultra Low Motion Blur” feature in G-Sync monitors, but for visual elements instead of text alone. If Nvidia’s marketing image above can be believed, it’s a marked increase in motion clarity — and I’ll be jumping right on it for my own esports endeavors if claims indeed hold true. I have a demo session scheduled with Nvidia later this week where I can hopefully check it out! I wasn’t able to get a deep-dive technical tutorial on how Pulsar works, but here’s an Nvidia-supplied comparison of how Pulsar works compared to a more traditional display. The downward VRR rolling backlight strobing is the secret sauce to the huge motion clarity improvements, giving the pixels time to stabilize before they’re backlit. Here’s a look at how a G-Sync Pulsar looks in Anno 117: Pax Romana. G-Sync Pulsar monitors will also feature Nvidia’s new Ambient Adaptive Technology, which automatically adjusts your panel’s color and brightness based on your room’s ambient conditions. I guess that means they must include an environmental sensor of some sort? Better yet, these displays should launch soon. Nvidia says availability will start right now during the midst of CES, with models coming from Asus, AOC, Acer, and MSI. Read...

The firm plans to deploy the technology at the same plant that was involved in a huge immigration raid in 2025. Read...

Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 chips, aka “Panther Lake,” have entered the market, backed by dozens of PC makers. “We’ve beeen out there shaping what it means for fundamental computing, said Jim Johnson, senior vice president and general manager of the Intel Client Computing Group, in a launch event at CES 2026. Lip-Bu Tan, Intel’s chief executive, said he was “proud” to highlight that Intel has shipped its first Intel 18A processors, the production technology upon which Panther Lake is built upon. The technology uses RibbonFET gate-all-around to manage current and energy efficiency, while PowerVia is Intel’s name for backside power delivery, enabling 15 percent better performance per watt. What is Intel’s Core Ultra 300 ‘Panther Lake’? Intel showed off what was simply known as “Panther Lake” in October, when Intel announced the Panther Lake technology along with some of its implementations. Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 chips return to the era of performance cores (P-cores), efficiency cores (E-cores,) and low-power efficiency cores (LP E-cores) of Intel’s Core Ultra 100 chip, aka Meteor Lake. Those are paired with an NPU capable of 50 TOPS worth of AI processing as well as Intel’s Xe3 GPU, which should improve Intel’s 3D capabilities. Foundry / Mark Hachman Intel said then that Panther Lake’s single-threaded performance should be 10 percent higher than Lunar Lake at the same power. Compared to both Lunar Lake and Meteor Lake, Intel’s Panther Lake offers more than 50 percent better multithreaded performance, Intel said in October. But the power should be 10 percent less than Lunar Lake. Anecdotally, Intel representatives have been characterizing Panther Lake as the performance of Arrow Lake — an architecture which struggled on the desktop but performed surprisingly well in Arrow Lake laptops — with the power consumption of Lunar Lake. Panther Lake consists of three different organizations of the P-cores, E-cores, and LP-cores: An 8-core chip, with 4 P-cores, 4 low-power (LP) E-cores; 4 Xe3 GPU cores and 4 ray-tracing units; and memory interfaces to either 6800 MT/s LPDDR5x or 6400 MT/s DDR5. A 16-core chip, with 4 P-cores, 8 E-cores, and 4 LP E-cores; 4 Xe3 GPU cores and 4 ray-tracing units; and memory interfaces to either 8533 MTs/ LPDDR5x or 7200 MT/s DDR5. A 16-core chip, with 4 P-cores, 8 E-cores, and 4 LP E-cores, 12 Xe3 GPU cores and 12 ray-tracing units; and memory interfaces to 9600MT/s LPDDR5x, period. At CES 2026, Johnson said that the Panther Lake delivers about 60 percent more power than the Core Ultra 200 series, or Lunar Lake, using the Cinebench 2024 mujlticore benchmark. Depending upon the banchmark, Intel cut the power by about 2.8X. Foundry / Mark Hachman Somewhat like AMD’s Ryzen AI Max (“Strix Halo”) or the Ryzen 9000X3D family, both of which concentrate large amounts of cache memory to improve performance, it’s the final “12Xe” configuration that will form the premium lineup on many laptops. The GPU will be called the Intel Arc B390 graphics, said Intel’s Dan Rogers, the vice president in charge of PC products at Intel. On average, gaming performance will be about 73 percent more than Lunar Lake, Rogers said. The B390 GPU can also take advantage of frame generation to improve frame rates further, he said. XeSS3 can render three AI-generated frames for every GPU-rendered frame, Rogers said. How good does Intel think Panther Lake is? Intel will launchn an entire handheld platform, based on Panther Lake, later this year, Rogers said, taking on AMD’s leadership in the space, Rogers said. Read...