Early benchmark results for Intel’s upcoming Panther Lake lineup suggest a split story: the mainstream Panther Lake-H chips look promising for both CPU and integrated graphics gains, but the more power-efficient models may not be moving forward in raw performance—at least not yet.
A recent Geekbench 6.3 listing provides a first look at the Panther Lake Core Ultra 7 365, a budget-leaning, power-focused chip design that—like some Lunar Lake parts—relies on a combination of Performance cores (P-cores) and low-power efficiency cores (LP-E cores), without the more traditional mix seen in other mobile families.
According to the test run on Windows 11, the Core Ultra 7 365 scored 2,451 points in single-core and 9,714 points in multi-core. Those numbers put it behind its predecessor, the Core Ultra 7 268V, which typically lands around 2,639 single-core and 10,318 multi-core in Geekbench. Based on those results, the early Panther Lake sample appears roughly 6–7% slower than the earlier generation in both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance.
The interesting part is that the core layout is essentially the same on paper. Both chips reportedly use a 4 P-core + 4 LP-E-core configuration. The main difference appears to be clocks: the Core Ultra 7 268V can boost up to 5.0 GHz, while the Core Ultra 7 365 is listed closer to 4.7 GHz. That gap helps explain why single-core scores could come in lower, and it also influences multi-core output.
Power targets complicate the picture further. The Core Ultra 7 365 is rumored to operate in a wider 22W–55W range, while the Core Ultra 7 268V is associated with a lower 17W–37W window. In other words, the newer chip may be designed to scale higher in power when allowed—yet this particular Geekbench result doesn’t show a clear advantage from that headroom.
It’s also worth emphasizing that this appears to be an early engineering sample. Early silicon, early firmware, and immature power management can all distort benchmark outcomes, and Geekbench results can vary noticeably from run to run depending on system tuning. There have also been other leaked performance datapoints suggesting the Core Ultra 7 365 can compete more closely in certain tests, so it’s too soon to treat this as a final verdict.
Right now, the bigger question is what Panther Lake’s power-efficient 8-core parts will deliver once retail systems arrive. These chips matter because they’re likely headed for thin-and-light laptops where battery life, thermals, and consistent sustained performance count more than short bursts. At the same time, they reportedly won’t have especially powerful integrated graphics, making CPU competitiveness even more important for everyday productivity and content work.
More benchmark results across multiple laptops, power profiles, and real-world workloads will be needed to see whether Panther Lake’s efficient SKUs can ultimately surpass comparable low-power chips from the previous generation—and whether Intel can balance performance, efficiency, and thermals better once drivers and firmware mature.
