Microsoft drops the Copilot+ PC name from its new Surface devices

Microsoft's new Surface PCs are no longer being sold as "Copilot+ PCs", Surface corporate vice president Brett Ostrum told Windows Central in an interview published on 24 September 2026, though he said the devices meet all the requirements of what he called Microsoft's "previous bar" for the category. Tom's Hardware picked up the story on 26 September.

What was said

Windows Central senior editor Zac Bowden wrote that none of the Surface PCs launched in 2026 carry the Copilot+ PC name in their product names, "unlike the Surface PCs that launched in 2025 and before". He asked Ostrum about it at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit.

According to Windows Central, Ostrum confirmed that "these are not called Copilot+ PCs. They do meet all the requirements of our previous bar for what Copilot+ devices are. We still lean into the narrative around AI on the edge and being able to have a hybrid solution out there."

Windows Central's headline calls the brand "dead". Tom's Hardware describes the branding as "controversial" in its headline and says Microsoft "did not give a specific reason for dropping the branding".

What Microsoft's own launch post says

The Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch with Snapdragon X2 Plus were announced on 23 September in a post on Microsoft's Devices Blog written by Ostrum himself. We read the full post: it does not use the term "Copilot+" anywhere. It does talk up on-device AI, saying the new generation brings "95% faster on-device AI" than the previous one, and describes Surface as bringing "Windows, Copilot, and Microsoft 365 experiences" to life. Microsoft's June post introducing the 13-inch Surface Pro and 13.8-inch and 15-inch Surface Laptop also has no mention of "Copilot+".

Microsoft says the new devices go on sale from 13 October in select markets, with the Surface Pro 12-inch starting at $1,149.99 and the Surface Laptop 13-inch at $1,199.

What the Copilot+ bar actually is

Microsoft's Windows 11 specifications page still lists "Minimum system requirements for Copilot+ PCs". It says Copilot+ PCs "must meet all" of:

• a processor or system-on-chip with an NPU "capable of performing 40+ TOPs" (it names AMD Ryzen AI 300 and 400 series, Intel Core Ultra 200V and 300V series, and Snapdragon X series)
• 16 GB of DDR5/LPDDR5 RAM
• 256 GB of SSD/UFS storage

The same page says devices "with fewer than 16 GB of RAM or lower storage configurations are not Copilot+ PCs", and that features such as improved Windows search and Click to Do still need a PC meeting all the requirements.

When we checked on 28 September, Microsoft's US address for its Copilot+ PCs page, microsoft.com/en-us/windows/copilot-plus-pcs, redirected to a Microsoft store page titled "Shop High-Performance Laptops, Computers, PCs, and Tablets". That page still uses the label "Copilot+ PC" on product listings and still says: "Accelerate your productivity with AI built into Copilot+ PCs". We do not know when the redirect was put in place.

Not only Microsoft

Windows Central also asked Qualcomm's SVP of compute, Kedar Kondap, about the name. He told the site that the purpose of Copilot+ PCs was to "define a certain category of devices with a certain bar and metric", and said: "it's more offering the same experiences, probably without just using [Copilot+ PC] terminology now."

Bowden wrote that over the past two years "more and more OEMs have dropped the moniker from marketing materials and product names", and that Nvidia "hasn't gone anywhere near the Copilot+ PC brand" for its upcoming RTX Spark platform. He also recalled that the category's headline feature, Recall, drew criticism from security researchers at launch in 2024 and was delayed.

Why it matters

The hardware requirements themselves have not been withdrawn: they are still on Microsoft's specifications page, and Ostrum is quoted saying the new Surface devices meet what he called the "previous bar". What has changed, according to Windows Central and Ostrum's reported comments, is the name on the box.

Tom's Hardware reports that Microsoft did not give a specific reason. Windows Central's own view is that the rough launch and Copilot's reputation "likely contributed"; Tom's Hardware suggests that with many current processors now reaching 40 TOPS, the distinction may no longer make sense. On our reading, buyers looking for the on-device features Microsoft still ties to that bar will need to check the specification sheet (NPU, RAM and storage) rather than rely on a label.