He was the only son of Louis IV, Count Palatine of the Rhine and his wife Margaret of Savoy. In 1474, he married Margaret of Bavaria-Landshut, the daughter of Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria and by virtue of the marriage received the Upper Palatinate.
In 1499 he inherited the possessions of the branches of Palatinate-Mosbach and Palatinate-Neumarkt. Philip lost the Landshut War of Succession in 1504 to Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria. In 1481 Philip invited Johann von Dalberg into the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg.
