Hands-on with Intel's Arc G3 handheld at Computex: It might finally give AMD some competition

For years, AMD has been the default choice for gaming handhelds.

Whether it is Valve's Steam Deck, Asus' ROG Ally lineup or most of the devices coming out of China, AMD chips have largely powered the handheld gaming boom. Intel has been present, but rarely part of the conversation.

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However, Computex 2026 showed us how the tables are about to turn with Intel unveiling its new Arc G-Series processors, a family of chips designed specifically for handheld gaming devices. The company is pitching them as the next step for the category, promising better graphics performance, improved efficiency and longer battery life.

After spending some time with the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, the first handheld powered by Intel's Arc G3 Extreme processor, the pitch feels a lot more believable.

The demo unit we tried was running Hogwarts Legacy. What surprised us wasn't that the game ran well. Premium handhelds have been doing that for a while now. What stood out was just how smooth the experience felt.

Frame rates hovered around 100fps and occasionally pushed beyond that on the device's 8-inch 120Hz display. The result was a level of fluidity that felt much closer to a gaming PC or console than a battery-powered handheld.

The timing made the experience even more interesting.

Just two months ago, we reviewed the ROG Xbox Ally X, one of the most powerful Windows gaming handhelds currently available. Powered by AMD's Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip, it packs 24GB of RAM, a 120Hz display and an 80Wh battery. It is exactly the kind of device Intel is targeting with Arc G3.

While this wasn't a controlled side-by-side comparison, the difference was noticeable. The MSI Claw felt smoother, more responsive and generally more capable than what we had experienced previously. Whether that advantage holds up in real-world testing remains to be seen, but Intel's hardware certainly made a strong first impression.

The reason Intel is so confident comes down to how it designed Arc G3. The new Arc G3 processors are based on the company's Panther Lake architecture, but Intel is positioning them differently from traditional laptop chips.

During a briefing at Computex, Tom Petersen, a Fellow at Intel, described the chip as a graphics-first processor built specifically for handheld gaming. In simple terms, Intel wants developers and gamers to think of Arc G3 as a gaming GPU with a CPU attached rather than the other way around.

That approach is visible in the technologies Intel is pushing alongside the chip.

Arc G3 supports XeSS 3, Intel's AI-powered gaming suite that combines upscaling, multi-frame generation and latency reduction. The company claims the Arc G3 Extreme processor delivers around 42% higher performance than AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme when both are configured at the same power level.

Like all vendor benchmarks, those claims will need independent verification once devices hit the market. But based on the hands-on session, the performance gains don't appear to exist only on PowerPoint slides.

The hardware around the chip is equally impressive. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ feels premium from the moment you pick it up. The grips are comfortable, the Hall-effect sticks and triggers feel precise, and the oversized 8-inch display is easily one of the best I've seen on a handheld gaming device. Unlike many Windows handhelds that can feel like mini PCs awkwardly squeezed into a controller, the Claw feels purpose-built for gaming.

Intel is also betting on software improvements. Arc G3-powered devices support Microsoft's new Xbox Mode, which brings a more console-like experience to Windows and reduces the need to constantly interact with desktop menus.

For Indian gamers, however, there is the question of availability as well and not just performance.

MSI has not announced whether or when the Claw 8 EX AI+ will launch in India. The company only recently brought the Claw 7 to the country, and despite growing interest in handheld gaming, the category remains relatively niche compared to traditional gaming laptops and consoles.

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That means Intel's most ambitious handheld gaming push yet may take some time to reach Indian consumers. Pricing will also be critical. Rising memory and storage costs have already pushed up hardware prices across the industry, and premium handhelds are becoming increasingly expensive.

Still, after spending time with the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, it feels like Intel finally has a credible answer to AMD in handheld gaming.

Whether that translates into meaningful market share is a question that will be answered over the next year. But based on my brief hands-on session at Computex, Intel's Arc G3 is the first handheld chip from the company that genuinely feels capable of changing the conversation.