In 2024, Microsoft and Qualcomm kicked off a new category of Windows hardware it called "Copilot+ PCs" that set the baseline for a new wave of AI-first computers, and launched with exclusive features that would not be made available on PCs that didn't meet a new set of system requirements.
The launch didn't go smoothly. Copilot+ PCs were met with immediate backlash from security researchers after discovering that Copilot+ PCs blockbuster feature, Recall, was woefully insecure. This forced the company to delay Recall and ship this new category of devices without its leading AI experience.
This pretty much tarnished the Copilot+ PC brand, and over the last two years more and more OEMs have dropped the moniker from marketing materials and product names. In fact, even Microsoft has seemingly stopped mentioning it.
I've noticed that none of the Surface PCs launched in 2026 include the Copilot+ PC moniker in their product names, unlike the Surface PCs that launched in 2025 and before. Now, you have to go digging to find any mention of Copilot+ compatibility in specification sheets.
At this year's Snapdragon Summit, I had the chance to ask Surface CVP Brett Ostrum about the lack of Copilot+ PC branding on its recent Surface PCs, and he confirmed that "these are not called Copilot+ PCs. They do meet all the requirements of our previous bar for what Copilot+ devices are. We still lean into the narrative around AI on the edge and being able to have a hybrid solution out there."
I've also asked Qualcomm's SVP of compute, Kedar Kondap, about his thoughts on the usage of the Copilot+ PC branding. He told me that "the purpose for Copilot+ PCs was to be able to deliver [NPU] experiences. So it was to define a certain category of devices with a certain bar and metric, like for example, a 45 TOPS NPU ... So from that perspective, it's more offering the same experiences, probably without just using [Copilot+ PC] terminology now."
It's also worth mentioning that NVIDIA hasn't gone anywhere near the Copilot+ PC brand for its upcoming RTX Spark platform, even though all RTX Spark PCs meet the Copilot+ PC specification bar. I suspect that's a deliberate decision.
It seems pretty obvious that the Copilot+ PC brand hasn't resonated with the market, and OEMs and Microsoft itself are now quietly pulling back on that branding. The specification baseline for Copilot+ PC experiences still exists, it just no longer has a pretty marketing name tied to it.
The rough launch of Copilot+ PCs, paired with the fact that Microsoft Copilot itself doesn't have a very strong reputation these days, likely contributed to the decision to slowly retire the Copilot+ PC branding. The brand never made sense to me anyway... these PCs have nothing to do with Copilot.
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