Acer and Intel unveil first Panther Lake laptop at IFA 2025

Acer CEO Jason Chen and Jim Johnson, Senior VP, Intel Client Computing Group, revealed the world’s first Panther Lake laptop at IFA. The upgraded Acer Swift 16 AI packs a 16in OLED screen and the latest Intel silicon to boost speeds in more demanding tasks.

Panther Lake is the next evolution of Lunar Lake, or the Core Ultra 200V series. Whilst Lunar Lake was a breakthrough in terms of power-efficiency, and also proved fast in single-core benchmarks, it fell behind the best AMD and Qualcomm processors in multicore tasks.

Intel hopes to change that with Panther Lake, adding four more power-efficient E-cores. In addition, it switches to Intel’s new 18A manufacturing process which means that each core should clock higher whilst needing less energy.

Intel has also upgraded the graphics chip, meaning that buyers of the Acer Swift 16 AI should be able to enjoy smooth frame rates in more demanding games.

We expect Panther Lake to be formally known as the Intel Core Ultra 300V series.

Acer Swift 16 AI Panther Lake: what do we know

For now, we must make assumptions about the Panther Lake Acer Swift 16 AI based on last year’s model. This weighed 1.5kg, measured 16mm thick and included a high-end 16in OLED panel with a 2,880 x 1,800 resolution. Based on what we saw on stage, it seems safe to assume the update will stick to these core features.

Battery life, AI performance and speed are the key things we don’t yet know. However, based on leaked details it seems likely that the Acer Swift 16 AI will last a full day’s usage away from a power supply.

In terms of looks, it’s almost identical to last year’s Intel-based Acer Swift 16 AI. Which it appears Intel’s Jim Johnson likes.

“It’s a beautiful machine, and I can’t wait until we launch this product together,” said Johnson during the Acer keynote. “It’s going to become the playground for unbelievable creativity and creation using AI tools and new hardware.”

We include a few photos of this below, including a spec summary that confirms the laptop will feature Bluetooth 6, up to 32GB of RAM and two Thunderbolt 4 ports.

Other highlights

There were other big takeaways from Jason Chen’s hour-long presentation.

First, a clear and continued emphasis on sustainability. He dedicated the first ten minutes of his IFA keynote to this topic, with the promise that Acer would continue to make this a priority.

Allen Lien, Chairman & CEO of Acer Medical, also joined him on stage to discuss how this wing of Acer could use AI to enhance doctors’ workflows – in particular, turning a patient’s description of their symptoms and lifestyle into a report-friendly piece of information.

We also saw plenty of product unveils, from Chromebooks to Copilot+ PCs to gaming systems, many of which we will cover in a separate article dedicated to the best business products of IFA 2025.