No chance for AMD: Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra X9 388H trounces AMD Strix Halo at low power signaling handheld gaming domination in 2026
First reviews of the Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra X9 388H APU are out, and Intel seems to have hit it out of the park. We also analyzed the Core Ultra X9 388H in great detail and found out that Intel has managed to noticeably increase the multi-core performance and power efficiency of the Core Ultra X9 388H.
However, the most impressive aspect of the Core Ultra X9 388H is the 12-core Arc B390 iGPU. Intel’s latest iGPU delivers phenomenal performance gains over the last-gen Arc 140V and AMD Radeon 890M. The iGPU truly shines at low TDPs up to 30W. For instance, in our testing, the Arc B390 managed more than 30 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p/ultra without using Frame Gen and limited to only 20 W. In fact, the Arc B390 can reportedly hold its own against the Strix Halo's Radeon 8060S at these low TDP ranges.
Taking a look at The Phawx’s benchmarks for the Core Ultra X9 388H at lower power limits, it becomes clear that the Intel Panther Lake APUs are set to dominate handheld gaming consoles in 2026. In Black Myth Wukong, for instance, the Arc B390 inside the Core Ultra X9 388H played the game at 30 FPS at 720p/low at 10 W.
Increasing the TDP to 15 W saw the average FPS jump to 46.6 with 1% lows at 37 FPS. The Radeon 8060S could only manage 39 FPS on average, and 31.8 FPS 1% lows at 15 W. The Core Ultra X9 388H was also slightly faster than the AMD Strix Halo at 20 W.
The 1080p results for Black Myth Wukong showed the same pattern. The Core Ultra X9 388H was noticeably faster than the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 at both 15 W and 20 W. The average FPS at 15 W stood at 29.3 FPS for the Core Ultra X9 388H and 22.6 FPS for the AMD Strix Halo. At 20 W, performance increased considerably for both APUs, but the Intel Panther Lake APU enjoyed a big lead of 23% with an average FPS of 37.8 vs 30.7 for the Ryzen APU.
A similar story played out in Cyberpunk 2077 using the Steam Deck preset, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and Doom: The Dark Ages.
In short, at lower power limits, the Core Ultra X9 388H with the Arc B390 comfortably beats the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 Strix Halo APU with the Radeon 8060S. The Strix Halo starts to pull ahead above 30 W. So, as things stand currently, the Intel Panther Lake APUs with the Arc B390 appear to be phenomenal chips for handheld gaming consoles.
This becomes even truer when we consider that, unlike Strix Halo, the Intel Panther Lake APUs fully support the newest XeSS 3 with Multi-Frame Gen, which provides a significant boost to average FPS, as we noted in our Arc B390 analysis.
Source(s)
The Phawx, Teaser image source: Intel, Macey11 on Pixabay, edited
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