Microsoft and Qualcomm quietly drop the Copilot+ PC brand

The Copilot+ PC brand, launched by Microsoft in 2024 to promote a new category of Windows computers designed for artificial intelligence, is being abandoned without an announcement. Microsoft no longer uses the name for its latest Surface devices, Surface corporate vice-president Brett Ostrum confirmed to Windows Central, as reported by Golem, MuyComputer and 01net.

The devices concerned are the 12-inch Surface Pro and the 13-inch Surface Laptop, presented on September 23, 2026 with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Plus processor. According to Ostrum, both meet all the requirements of the category. They simply do not carry its name.

What Copilot+ PC meant

Copilot+ PC was a certification label rather than a product. It set a minimum hardware threshold for running Windows AI features locally, in particular a neural processing unit, or NPU, a chip dedicated to machine-learning calculations, capable of at least 45 trillion operations per second (45 TOPS). Microsoft tied exclusive Windows 11 features to it, which could run on the device rather than in a third-party cloud.

Qualcomm is also moving away from the term. Kedar Kondap, senior vice-president for compute and gaming, explained that the brand was meant to define a class of devices with a fixed performance bar, such as a 45 TOPS NPU, and that the same functions will be offered in future, probably without the Copilot+ PC wording, according to Golem and 01net. Windows Central also reports that PC makers and Nvidia avoid the label: Nvidia markets its RTX Spark platform without it, even though the devices meet the requirements.

There has been no official announcement that the brand is over, Golem notes. MuyComputer observes that manufacturers had already stopped using the name in their marketing and product names.

A launch weighed down by Recall

The category never recovered from its start. Its flagship feature, Recall, was designed to take regular screenshots of everything the user does so that past activity could be searched with AI. Security researchers quickly showed significant vulnerabilities, and Microsoft had to postpone the feature, 01net recalls. The first Copilot+ machines were therefore sold without their main selling point. MuyComputer says the delay lasted almost a year and also pushed back the Windows 11 2024 Update.

The name itself added confusion, according to 01net: the Copilot+ label had no direct link with how Microsoft's Copilot assistant works, and the Copilot brand did not have a good reputation among users. MuyComputer adds that Microsoft's push to place Copilot buttons across Windows, and a message by Windows chief Pavan Davuluri about turning Windows into an agentic operating system, drew thousands of negative reactions, after which the company promised to reduce the pressure of AI in Windows 11.

Microsoft is also testing, in the Release Preview channel of Windows 11 versions 24H2, 25H2 and 26H2, an option that lets users reassign the Copilot key as a right Ctrl key or a context-menu key, Golem reports.

Shorter than an average Microsoft name

The withdrawal fits a familiar pattern. Microsoft MVP Loryan Strant documents the company's constant renamings in his Rebrand Registry, which now lists 72 products with 158 names in total, according to Golem. A product name lasts on average two years and eleven months there. Copilot+ PC, launched in 2024, falls below that average.

• 2024: Microsoft and Qualcomm launch the Copilot+ PC category, with a 45 TOPS NPU threshold.
• Recall, its flagship feature, is delayed after security researchers expose vulnerabilities.
• September 23, 2026: the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop ship without the label.
• October 7, 2026: Windows and Surface event in San Francisco on local AI, with Satya Nadella and Jensen Huang, according to the invitation cited by Golem.

What comes next

Microsoft has invited the press to a Windows and Surface event in San Francisco on October 7, 2026, dedicated, according to the invitation, to how local AI will shape the next chapter of the PC, Golem reports. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang will appear alongside Satya Nadella. Whether Microsoft will present a successor to Copilot+ PC is open. MuyComputer expects the event to clarify the overall situation of AI in Windows 11.

For buyers, the practical consequence is the loss of a simple signal. The label showed at a glance whether a device met the hardware requirements for Windows AI features, Golem notes. The requirements themselves remain valid, 01net stresses: an NPU and local AI processing are still needed to use those features. MuyComputer argues that the label has lost its purpose anyway, since most new PCs now include NPUs above the minimum threshold.

What this changes for companies

For IT departments that renew fleets of laptops, the disappearance of the label means purchasing specifications must name the requirement directly: an NPU of at least 45 TOPS and support for the local Windows AI features the organisation actually intends to use, rather than a marketing badge. It is also a reminder, useful for companies in Spain and elsewhere, that the vocabulary of AI PCs changes faster than the machines: a procurement framework tied to a brand name can become outdated before the equipment is depreciated.