Microsoft Scraps Copilot+ PC Branding for New Surface Models

Microsoft has quietly dropped its Copilot+ PC branding for new Surface models, a move that marks the end of an experiment launched in mid-2024. The Copilot+ PC program aimed to identify Windows machines capable of handling AI workloads locally, but it met with privacy concerns and controversy.

The new Surface Pro 12-inch (2nd Edition) and Surface Laptop 13-inch (2nd Edition), announced at the Snapdragon Summit on September 23-25, no longer carry the Copilot+ PC branding. According to Brett Ostrum, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Surface, the decision to remove the branding was made.

The original Copilot+ PC program set a minimum threshold of 40 TOPS (trillion operations per second) for a device's neural processing unit, but the new Surface models feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Plus processor with an 80 TOPS NPU, double the original requirement. This change in messaging centers on 'AI on the edge,' signaling that on-device AI processing should be a baseline expectation across Windows 11 machines.

Qualcomm's Kedar Kondap indicated that the actual user experience will likely remain unchanged despite the branding shift. The same AI features, the same hardware capabilities, just without the marketing label.