Microsoft Drops Copilot+ Label on New Surface PCs
New Surface Pro and Surface Laptop ship with 80 TOPS Qualcomm NPUs but skip the Copilot+ PC branding Microsoft has used since 2024.
Microsoft's newest Surface computers will not carry the Copilot+ PC branding the company has applied to Windows systems approved for local AI-accelerated workloads since 2024. The Surface Pro 12-inch (2nd Edition) and Surface Laptop 13-inch (2nd Edition), announced this week and releasing October 13, are instead being positioned without the label.
Surface corporate VP Brett Ostrum said the new machines meet the previous Copilot+ requirements but are simply not called Copilot+ PCs. Those requirements call for 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and an integrated NPU rated at 40 TOPS or better.
Both devices exceed that bar on paper. They use Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus processors paired with a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU rated at 80 TOPS, double the prior threshold.
Qualcomm SVP of compute Kedar Kondap said the Copilot+ PC label defined a device category with a performance bar such as a 45 TOPS NPU. The shift comes as a Microsoft Copilot+ PCs marketing page now redirects to a performance PCs page that mentions Copilot+ PCs less prominently, according to Ars Technica.
Branding in flux
The change leaves Microsoft's AI PC messaging without the badge it introduced to signal on-device AI capability, even as the new Surface hardware clears the old spec.
Quick answers
What are the Copilot+ PC requirements?
Microsoft's Copilot+ PCs require 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and an integrated NPU rated at 40 TOPS or better.
When do the new Surface devices release?
The Surface Pro 12-inch (2nd Edition) and Surface Laptop 13-inch (2nd Edition) release on October 13.
What chips do the new Surface PCs use?
Both use Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus processors and a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU rated at 80 TOPS.