It looks like the first Intel Panther Lake laptops may arrive earlier than anyone expected, and Asus might be the brand leading the charge. Just days after Intel’s next-gen Core Ultra chip quietly appeared on Geekbench with some surprisingly strong numbers, Asus has confirmed a CES 2026 event. The timing is almost too perfect, landing just hours after Intel’s own keynote where Panther Lake is expected to be unveiled. If this lines up the way it seems, Asus may be preparing to showcase the world’s first laptops powered by Intel’s most ambitious chip yet.
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Asus has confirmed it will host its CES 2026 showcase on January 6 with the theme “Ubiquitous AI. Incredible Possibilities.” The company says it plans to reveal a full lineup of advanced AI PCs and new innovations, strongly hinting that some of these laptops will run on Intel’s new Panther Lake processors.
“The future unfolds. Join ASUS at #CES2026 on January 6, 9.00 a.m. (PST). Save the date and tune in to the ASUS CES 2026 Livestream,” the tech giant said in a post on X.
Early benchmark leaks had suggested that the Core Ultra 9 386H is one of the chips ready to debut. It reportedly features a 2.1 GHz base clock and boosts up to 4.724 GHz, offering an improvement of roughly 9 percent in single-threaded tasks and around 4 percent in multi-threaded performance over Arrow Lake.
With that being said, Asus has still not confirmed which laptop models will feature Panther Lake, nor has it shared specifications, pricing or market positioning. Final performance will depend on factors like thermal design, battery optimisation and whether the lineup uses integrated graphics or pairs the chips with discrete GPUs. It also remains to be seen whether Asus will keep these devices limited to premium segments or bring them to mid-range buyers as well.
Intel’s upcoming Panther Lake lineup marks its first client-side processor family built on the advanced 18A process node. The architecture uses a multi-chiplet design that blends high-efficiency and high-performance cores, along with a next-generation Xe3 integrated GPU and upgraded NPU capabilities.
All of this is aimed at powering the next wave of AI-ready laptops with better speed, efficiency and graphics. Intel’s roadmap points to the first Panther Lake devices arriving in January 2026, which makes the current timing of leaks and teasers even more interesting.
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