Nobody wanted an "AI PC," so Microsoft stopped calling it that

Microsoft and Qualcomm confirm they've dropped the Copilot+ PC branding

by · TechSpot

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The takeaway: Two years ago, Microsoft and Qualcomm launched "Copilot+" as their take on what they and Intel called the "AI PC" era. However, the term "Copilot+" is nowhere to be found in the PR for Microsoft's latest Surface devices. In fact, manufacturers across the board seem to be backing away from explicit AI PC branding while continuing to promote generative AI features.

At the Snapdragon 2026 Summit, Microsoft and Qualcomm spokespeople confirmed to Windows Central that they are no longer describing new Microsoft Surface products or other devices as Copilot+ PCs. While Microsoft has remained committed to promoting its Copilot AI assistant, the comments are a tacit admission that customers have not responded to the idea of rebranding PCs as AI devices.

Brett Ostrum, the Surface division's corporate vice president, told the publication that Microsoft is still leaning into the AI narrative and offering the same capabilities as before, but that its new devices are not being called Copilot+ PCs. Kedar Kondap, Qualcomm's senior vice president of compute, echoed those comments, confirming that the companies are offering the same experiences as before, just without the Copilot+ PC terminology.

Microsoft and Qualcomm debuted the Copilot+ branding when they launched the first wave of Arm-based Windows PCs in 2024. Copilot+ was their version of what Intel dubbed an "AI PC" – PCs with at least 16GB of RAM and NPUs capable of at least 40 TOPS of AI compute. Other manufacturers hopped on the bandwagon, and AMD even renamed its mobile CPUs to include the word "AI."

However, data quickly showed that while AI PCs were selling, customers were buying them because they needed new PCs and the new systems happened to include NPUs, rather than because they specifically wanted AI PCs. Manufacturers have since quietly retreated from AI-related branding.

One of the biggest signs came in January, when Dell revived the XPS brand after killing it a year earlier – admitting that AI alone isn't a good enough selling point for new PCs. Microsoft's latest Surface laptop refresh even includes models with only 8GB of RAM, meaning they no longer meet the original AI PC benchmark.

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Ironically, AI-driven memory shortages are partly to blame. Early next month, Microsoft plans to unveil new high-end Surface laptops in collaboration with Nvidia, which has historically preferred running AI workloads on its own RTX GPUs rather than NPUs.

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