Barely over two years after introducing it as the label for a new generation of AI-powered Windows PCs, Microsoft appears to be moving on from the Copilot+ PC name. According to a latest report, the company’s latest Surface devices meet the hardware requirements that defined Copilot+ PCs, but Microsoft is no longer using the branding for them. The change was confirmed by Microsoft Surface CVP Brett Ostrum, who told Windows Central that the newly announced Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch are not called Copilot+ PCs, even though they meet the requirements previously set for the category.
Instead, Microsoft is focusing its messaging on AI running locally on the device and across the cloud. That means the Copilot+ PC specification itself is not disappearing. The branding around it is.
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Microsoft introduced the Copilot+ PC category in 2024 alongside Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X processors. The idea was to create a new class of Windows PCs with dedicated hardware for running AI features locally.
One of the key requirements was an NPU capable of at least 40 TOPS of AI performance. Microsoft also introduced a collection of AI features exclusive to these PCs, with Recall positioned as one of the biggest additions.
The latest Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch, announced this week with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Plus, continue to focus heavily on on-device AI. Microsoft says the new machines deliver up to 95% faster local AI processing compared with the previous generation.
Yet, neither device is being positioned as a Copilot+ PC.
Microsoft is preparing to talk about the next phase of local AI on Windows at its upcoming Surface event on October 7. At the same time, the company is expanding its hardware strategy beyond the Snapdragon-based machines that helped launch the Copilot+ PC category.
So, with AI hardware now becoming a standard part of modern PC processors, Microsoft may be looking for a broader way to describe its next generation of Windows PCs rather than continuing with the Copilot+ PC label.
For now, there is no indication that Copilot+ features or their hardware requirements are being removed. Instead, Microsoft just appears to be gradually retiring the name that was created to market a new generation of PCs.
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