Microsoft’s New Surface PCs Meet Copilot+ Requirements—but Skip the Branding

Microsoft appears to be moving away from the Copilot+ PC branding, even as its newest Surface computers continue to meet the requirements for running AI workloads locally.

Introduced in 2024, the Copilot+ PC label was intended to help consumers identify Windows computers capable of handling AI-accelerated tasks on the device. However, the branding is notably absent from the new Surface PCs Microsoft announced this week.

Speaking to Windows Central, Brett Ostrum, Surface’s corporate vice president, said the new devices “will not be called Copilot+ PCs,” despite meeting the requirements for the designation.

“They meet all the requirements of the previous standard of what a Copilot+ device is. We’re still leaning into the narrative around AI on the edge and being able to deliver hybrid solutions there,” Ostrum said.

New Surface PCs meet Copilot+ PC hardware requirements

Copilot+ PCs require at least 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and an integrated neural processing unit (NPU) capable of more than 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS).

The Surface Pro 12-inch (2nd edition) and Surface Laptop 13-inch (2nd edition), scheduled to launch on October 13, both use Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus processors. Each device includes a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU rated at 80 TOPS—well above the Copilot+ PC performance requirement.

Kedar Kondap, Qualcomm’s senior vice president of computing, also told Windows Central that the original purpose of the Copilot+ PC designation was to highlight NPU-powered experiences. From that perspective, devices may still deliver the same experience even if Microsoft no longer emphasizes the Copilot+ PC name.

Is the Copilot+ PC label becoming obsolete?

A Microsoft marketing page launched in May describes Copilot+ PC as a “class of AI PCs and laptops” and as “the fastest, most intelligent Windows PC ever,” according to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

However, the Copilot+ PC landing page now redirects to Microsoft’s Performance PC page. Although the page still references Copilot+ PCs, the branding is less prominent than before.

The shift suggests that Microsoft may be focusing less on Copilot+ PC as a consumer-facing label and more on broader messaging around AI PCs, on-device AI, and hybrid computing.