Microsoft stops insisting you need a "Copilot+ PC"

Ars Technica 25 Sep 2026, 17:57 UTC 2 min read

In brief

Microsoft is reducing the emphasis on its “Copilot+ PC” label as interest in AI PCs weakens and concerns over the Recall feature persist. The shift also comes as new hardware branding, including Nvidia’s RTX Spark GPUs, may become more prominent.

Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC campaign helped establish the AI PC category and supported demand during a post-COVID slowdown in computer sales.

Satya Nadella said in October 2024 that Copilot+ PCs were “winning new customers”; in January 2025, he cited a 15 percent share of US premium laptop sales during the holiday season.

IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani said interest has been declining because cloud AI services are broadly available and on-device use cases remain limited.

Dell dropped the laptop branding introduced in 2025, while its 2026 lineup makes little mention of AI PCs; Microsoft plans a “Surface Laptop Ultra” with RTX Spark this fall.

Why it matters: The change suggests that PC makers may be moving from broad AI positioning toward specific hardware features as buyers remain unconvinced by on-device AI.

Editorial brief by Sakhanda Wire AI, based on reporting by Ars Technica.

There are numerous reasons why Microsoft may be shying away from Copilot+ PC branding. One is the fact that the label was marred by the alarming, persistent security risks that accompanied its Recall feature, which remains concerning among privacy advocates.

Further, the Copilot+ PC marketing campaign may have served its purpose. It helped push the idea of “AI PCs” as the world’s expectations for generative AI reached new heights. The PC program also gave people a reason to think they needed a new computer, just as the PC industry was experiencing a post-COVID sales lull. In October 2024, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Copilot+ PCs were “winning new customers.” In January 2025, he said that Copilot+ PCs represented 15 percent of premium laptop sales in the US during the holiday season.

Two years later, the idea of AI PCs is fading. PC manufacturers already had trouble pushing the AI PC message before the RAM shortage complicated things further, Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for worldwide mobile device trackers at IDC, told Ars Technica in January.

“General interest in AI PCs has been wavering for a while, since cloud-based options are widely available and the use cases for on-device AI have been limited. This indifference (between on-device and cloud-based) from a demand perspective might work in favor of PC OEMs, as they don’t need to provide large amounts of RAM,” he added.

More evidence of waning AI PC interest comes from Dell, which this year killed the laptop branding that it released in 2025. Dell’s 2026 laptop lineup makes minimal mention of AI PCs, which is starkly different from 2025.

Another reason that Microsoft could be putting Copilot+ PC marketing on the back burner is Nvidia’s incoming RTX Spark laptop GPUs. Microsoft has already confirmed it’s releasing a “Surface Laptop Ultra” with RTX Spark this fall. The use of RTX Spark may end up taking marketing precedence over the idea of PCs that run Copilot well, which have now been around for years.

Microsoft stops insisting you need a "Copilot+ PC"

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