Microsoft is quietly retiring the ‘Copilot Plus PC’ brand

Remember when Microsoft wanted everyone to know that a “Copilot Plus PC” was the machine to buy — the one with enough built-in AI muscle to actually get things done? Two and a half years on, the company and Qualcomm appear to be quietly burying the brand.

According to Windows Central’s Zac Bowden, the new 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop technically meet the Copilot Plus PC system requirements — yet Microsoft no longer calls them that. “These are not called Copilot Plus PCs,” Surface CVP Brett Ostrom told the publication. Qualcomm’s SVP of compute and gaming, Kedar Kondap, seemed to agree: machines offering the same experiences will “probably” not carry the branding anymore.

Why the label never stuck

The retreat makes sense. Back in 2024, observers pointed out that nearly every PC would soon ship with the baseline AI hardware the brand was meant to signal — leaving little reason for a separate name. The flagship Copilot Plus PC feature, Recall, landed poorly. Microsoft also drew fire for constantly nudging users toward AI upsells, and for that dedicated Copilot key that owners have only recently been allowed to remap.

There’s a hardware angle too. Microsoft’s flagship machines are now switching to Nvidia chips, which are supposed to usher in a fresh era of personal AI on Windows. On October 7^th the company hosts an event about “how local AI will shape the next chapter of the PC” — where, The Verge suspects, it will unveil a shiny new brand to replace “Copilot Plus PC.” In other words, Microsoft’s marketers may soon have a new buzzword to hand.

Source: The Verge