Qualcomm Inc., the biggest maker of mobile phone chips, said it’s extending a push into the market for processors that are the heart of personal computers.

Much of the non-graphics aspects of Panther Lake include a lot of optimizations over previous generations, plus a move to Intel's smaller (2nm) 18A process node, which should result in the relevant chips being better overall, drawing notably less power. The first systems incorporating the 3 Series processors begin shipping immediately.

AMD's new-for-2026 Ryzen 7 9850X3D processor kicks up the clocks and packs the same extra-fast cache in an effort to outpace the well-regarded Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

AMD has rolled out one of its broadest PC platform updates in years at CES 2026, unveiling new laptop and desktop processors, an AI-focused mini PC and fresh software features aimed at making on-device AI and better graphics the default across the PC market.

It's not the first Zen 5 X3D processor that AMD has released that's faster than the 9800X3D, though. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D has two core chiplets (CCDs), one with 3D V-cache, and one without. When it comes to boost clocks, the latter can hit 5.7 GHz, whereas the former topped out at 5.5 GHz in the tests I carried out in my review of the 9950X3D.

At a high level, this feels like AMD borrowing a page directly from Intel's recent playbook. With the gaming performance crown firmly in hand, the company

AMD is introducing an improved version of its popular Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor today at CES. The new Ryzen 7 9850X3D offers up the same 8-core / 16-thread CPU as the 9800X3D, running at even faster boost clocks.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is already the best gaming processor out right now, but AMD is following up with a mid-generation refresh at CES 2026, with the Ryzen 7 9850X3D.