Gear Information of the Week: Intel’s New Chips Arrive, and Apple Might Debut iPads and MacBooks This Month

Intel’s future has by no means appeared so unsure. However a lot of the firm’s roller-coaster trip of a yr has been a lead-up to its next-gen CPU launch, introduced this week. The chips will likely be often called Intel Core Extremely Collection 3, codenamed Panther Lake, they usually’re being manufactured in its new Arizona-based fabrication plant.

Intel claims the primary configurations will ship earlier than the top of the yr after which extra broadly beginning in January 2026. We do not have a whole lineup but, however Panther Lake will embrace as much as 16-core CPUs with a “greater than 50 % quicker CPU” efficiency over the earlier era. Intel claims that the brand new built-in GPU with have as much as 12 GPU cores which are additionally 50 % quicker than the prior era, boosted by a brand new structure.

Intel is combating again in opposition to the stiff competitors. Qualcomm dramatically entered the Home windows laptop computer race in 2024 with its Arm-based, highly-efficient Snapdragon X chips, doubling the battery lifetime of present Intel-powered laptops in some circumstances. Whereas Intel was in a position to reply to the battery-life competitors with its Core Extremely Collection 2 V-series chips in late 2024, efficiency took successful on these laptops, and the effectivity solely utilized to flagship, skinny, and lightweight laptops. Price range-level and high-performance laptops used a distinct structure and subsequently did not get that very same bump in effectivity.

That made looking for a laptop computer in 2025 much more head-scratching than regular. These subsequent chips will try to repair this downside, with the firm promising “Lunar Lake–degree energy effectivity” and “Arrow Lake–class efficiency.” Intel actually wants to attain that promise, as a result of with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite having simply been previewed and the Apple M5 on the way in which, the stakes hold rising. —Luke Larsen

Apple’s Subsequent {Hardware} Launch Is Coming Quickly

In case you’re pondering, did not Apple simply have an occasion? Sure, the corporate debuted new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods simply final month. However rumors are heating up that the corporate will announce extra merchandise this month, centered on iPads and MacBooks. That is common, as the corporate has held October occasions for the previous few years, normally for the pill and Mac lineups. It is unclear whether or not this will likely be an precise occasion or a silent launch through press launch. The corporate has executed each up to now.

So what are you able to count on? The marquee announcement will revolve across the anticipated M5 chipset, which can debut inside a brand new MacBook Professional and the iPad Professional. The flagship pill seemingly will not look or really feel too completely different from the prior M4 model. MacBooks are slightly extra up within the air on launch timing; it may very well be at this occasion or early in 2026. If they’re introduced, it will be a brand new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Professional with an M5, M5 Professional, and M5 Max chip. Apple has additionally reportedly been gearing up for a funds MacBook launch powered by an iPhone processor, however this may occasionally arrive early in 2026 as a substitute.

Different {hardware} which will debut at this October occasion features a new Imaginative and prescient Professional powered by an M4 or M5 chip with a comfier head strap, although it is in any other case the identical as the unique headset. There could also be a brand new Apple TV with a quicker chipset, the brand new model of Siri (although this may not come till 2026), and Wi-Fi 7 assist. And we could lastly see a second-gen AirTag, with an extended vary.

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