Copilot+ PC Questions, Answers, and Some Clarity (Premium)

Among the many questions we have about Copilot+ PC this year is when these features would come to non-Snapdragon X-based PCs. And how. This week, we finally got a bit of clarity from Microsoft and its hardware partners, all of which have been tight-lipped and vague to date. And the news matches my expectations for the most part.

As you know, Microsoft launched the Copilot+ PC brand at its May launch event for Surface Pro 11, Surface Laptop 7, and all the third-party PCs based on Qualcomm’s innovative Snapdragon X hardware platform. This brand marks a sharp right-turn for the marketing of Windows 11 on Arm-based PCs, with its pivot away from always-on connectivity to AI. But that’s due in part to Copilot+ PC not being Arm-specific. Instead, the branding is the PCs’ NPU, and the resulting features that can come from having hardware accelerated on-device AI.

Those capabilities were never going to be limited to Arm: We’ve known for some time that AMD and Intel would launch new generation chips with integrated NPUs that meet or exceed the Copilot+ PC specifications. And since then, they have: AMD went live with its Zen 5 platform in August and Intel formally launched Lunar Lake, the second-generation Core Ultra platform, yesterday at IFA.

So it’s on, in a sense. And Intel has already come out swinging with a familiar refrain that its chips, unlike those made by Qualcomm, are fully and natively compatible with all Windows software and peripherals, and not just the subset Snapdragon X can handle. They were particularly brutal in hammering home the video game issues with Snapdragon X during an IFA pre-brief yesterday, almost to the point of cringe. But that’s fair: Qualcomm was, perhaps, a bit premature to pretend that Snapdragon X is a viable platform for playing x64 games. All’s far in love and war. And in marketing.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As soon as Microsoft announced Copilot+ PC, and in particular the controversial Recall feature, I knew we were in for a summer of questions. I also surmised, correctly, that Microsoft would communicate its positions badly or not at all. And that clarity would only come in time, and most likely from third parties like PC and silicon makers.

Recall is well-understood. The feature came under fire immediately from privacy and security advocates, which makes sense given Microsoft’s past sins. (A fact that renders its initial announcement seem particularly naive; it must have known this criticism would be immediate and deserved.) After some scrutiny, Microsoft finally announced some concessions on Recall and then delayed its release in preview until late 2024.

Less well understood, thanks to Microsoft marketing, was how and when Recall and the other Copilot+ PC features would expand to non-Snapdragon X PCs. And by the time those first Copilot+ PCs became available, the situation was a muddled mess. The AI features aren’t all that compelling, especially with Recall removed, and I think we all understand that it’s only a matter of time before terms like AI PC and Copilot+ PC disappear, since all PCs will have those hardware capabilities.

This is problematic for Qualcomm, which suddenly did a terrific job making Arm viable on the PC. As is the quick turnaround time AMD and Intel engineered with their respective responses. The clock has always been ticking, but as of today, it’s stopped, and they’ve arrived. What is that Qualcomm retains in this shift?

That’s not totally clear. Snapdragon X may have some hardware advantages inherent to efficiency, but it may not. What is clear, suddenly, is that it will not have the Copilot+ PC brand for itself, as I had surmised: New AMD- and Intel-based PCs will indeed be called Copilot+ PCs. That is, they won’t only be marketed as AI PCs that offer Copilot+ PC features. A subtle distinction, I suppose. But also an important one that suggests that Microsoft’s relationship with Qualcomm isn’t so important that it can snub the silicon makers that have been more important to the PC platform since its inception. So there’s one question, answered.

This is important.

I’ve made the point, repeatedly, that the security “experts” who complained about Recall were both out to lunch and irresponsible because the PCs they evaluated this feature on were not Copilot+ PCs, rendering their arguments moot. Copilot+ PCs are much more secure than normal PCs for so many reasons–you can learn more about that in this article–and it’s a requirement of the specification, one that significantly raises the bar on the PC in a manner we’ve not seen since Microsoft first started talking up TPM chips in the Longhorn days. If AMD- and Intel-based PCs only had “Copilot+ PC features” but not the Copilot+ PC hardware requirements, they might not be as secure as Snapdragon X-based PCs.

Well, that’s not the case: These PCs will be Copilot+ PCs and so they will have Windows Hello ESS and all the other Copilot+ PC security advances that make Recall–and, as important, the entire PC–more secure than anything we’ve seen before. So whatever your feelings about Recall–and, seriously, people with little understanding of what’s really happening there seem to have the strongest opinions about it–whatever. These advances will benefit everyone using PCs, and now that they’re happening on mainstream Intel and AMD designs, that change will accelerate dramatically. It’s a big deal.

Intel, infamously, is having its issues, but those are broad, corporate issues, and as I’ve argued, it’s foolish to write this company off in the PC space. And AMD is AMD: Smaller than it deserves to be and with important performance and efficiency advantages of its own. (My recent experiences with gaming on mainstream AMD-based laptops being just one example.) However and wherever these platforms land, against each other and against Apple Silicon, which still retains its own advantages, 2024 is absolutely the most monumental year for the PC since its inception, thanks to the advances were seeing across the chips from all three silicon makers. Which is somewhat ironic since no one thinks AI PCs will help move the needle on PC sales this year. And because, again, those brands will disappear at some point anyway.

But here’s the thing. That’s how this works. It’s always been this way.

We only had multimedia PCs in the 1990s because the features that platform brought to bear, through a combination of software from Microsoft in Windows and hardware and drivers from silicon makers, PC makers, and peripheral makers came together in a perfect storm. And then … it went away. When all PCs offered those features. This pattern repeated itself with Media Center PCs, Tablet PCs, Ultramobile PCs, and (technically) Always Connected PCs, though it’s fair to point out that cellular connectivity remains an option, not a base system feature. This is already happening with AI PCs and Copilot+ PCs: It’s only a matter of time before silicon makers don’t even ship processors without NPUs. It’s already in the works.

Anyway, Windows 11 version 24H2 is the milestone software release that unlocks this functionality. As with everything else tied to this platform, it’s happening in stages. 24H2 shipped first with Copilot+ PCs in June, all based on Snapdragon X-based hardware. But it will ship more broadly in the next month or so, and be made available on new Copilot+ PCs running AMD and Intel silicon as well as what will suddenly seem like old-fashioned PC hardware. Pre-NPU hardware. The before times. It’s going to happen quickly, as hardware recommendations become requirements and the world moves on.

But timing has been a question. A question that has been answered now, if vaguely. Windows 11 version 24H2 will ship broadly soon. But Microsoft hasn’t said exactly when. And those Copilot+ PC features that are, today, unique to Snapdragon X, will ship more broadly on PCs with new AMD and Intel chips (but not to older PCs). And that will happen in November, Microsoft says. Which sounds definitive but isn’t. Because that’s what things are like with Microsoft, at least the Windows part of Microsoft, these days.

“Eligible AMD- and Intel-powered devices will begin to see new AI experiences starting in November through free Windows updates,” Microsoft says. Those features–the Copilot+ PC features–are familiar to anyone up on the platform, there’s nothing new. But “free Windows updates” could mean almost anything. Is this the initial 24H2 upgrade? Is it a post-24H2 monthly cumulative update? Something unique to this thing? Microsoft isn’t saying.

But November is better than “later this year” or something even more vague. And in keeping with the chaotic way that Windows 11 is updated now, it’s fair to say that these things will appear in a haphazard way, across some period of time, and that by early 2025, all “eligible” PCs–those with powerful NPUs and other components required by the Copilot+ PC specification–will finally all be on the same basic software loadout. Nothing is clean and obvious anymore, let alone immediate. But it’s happening. It’s finally happening.

There are still questions, of course. There are always are. And the key question to me at this slice in time are about how well AMD and Intel’s latest chips match up, with each, with Qualcomm Snapdragon X, and, yes, with Apple Silicon. Roughly speaking, AMD and Intel can of course claim compatibility advantages over Qualcomm. But I’m most curious about efficiency, and the impact on battery life. And whether they have closed that gap, and to what degree. I’m here at IFA in Berlin to find out. It’s that important to me.

And so I’ll have more to say soon. For now, I’m happy to have some questions answered. But I’m looking forward to that improving further as soon as the next few days.

It’s a great time to be a PC user. And a terrific year if you care about this platform. It’s so exciting.

More soon.