Intel is ramping up its support for portable gaming manufacturers, with VP Robert Hallock revealing that Intel is "beefing up its staff to support gaming manufacturers who want to make handhelds."
While Intel’s in-house Arc graphics have been improving, its track record in handheld gaming leaves much to be desired. For years, AMD has ruled the handheld gaming market, with its processors powering top-tier devices like the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally X.
Meanwhile, Intel’s previous attempts, such as the MSI Claw A1M, flopped like a freshly caught trout.
With gamers demanding powerful yet power-efficient chips, Intel struggles to prove itself against AMD’s well-established Ryzen Z1 Extreme and Radeon 780M graphics.
One of Intel’s biggest challenges is simply getting developers on board. Hallock admits a significant issue has been a "lack of access to proper testing equipment," which gives AMD an automatic edge. To combat this, Intel plans to distribute prototype devkit handhelds featuring its latest chips, giving game makers a reason to consider Intel-powered devices.
"A lot of game devs tend just to target what they have on their desks, so [we're] arming them with more handhelds as prototype devices. Getting them dev kits leading into Panther Lake," Hallock revealed.
Intel’s first Meteor Lake-powered handhelds, including MSI’s Claw 7 AI+ and 8 AI+, were meant to mark a turning point. However, a chaotic rollout saw delays and confusion, with the high-end Claw 8 AI+ still listed as ‘coming soon’ on Best Buy well into February. While Intel can’t shoulder all the blame for MSI’s botched launch, it doesn’t help the company’s already shaky reputation in handheld gaming.
Hallock believes the upcoming Arrow Lake H chips could be a game-changer, claiming they perform "about the same as an RTX 3050 Laptop GPU."
However, in a market where AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme is already delivering exceptional power efficiency, Intel will need more than raw performance to tempt gamers away from the tried-and-tested competition.
"Some of these handhelds are going up to 30 watts now. And Arrow Lake fits really nicely in that sort of form factor," Hallock said.
Power consumption is crucial for handheld gaming, and Intel must prove that its chips can compete with AMD’s efficiency. The company is banking on its Arc graphics and XeSS upscaling technology to provide a performance-per-watt boost. However, with AMD’s own FSR tech continuing to evolve—and NVIDIA’s DLSS 4 setting new standards in AI-powered upscaling—Intel has a lot to prove.
