Microsoft has stopped using “Copilot+ PC” to describe the new 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop in its launch announcement. Surface executive Brett Ostrum told Windows Central that the devices are not called Copilot+ PCs, according to The Verge. The two models still have chips and local AI capabilities that would have fit the original hardware category.
Microsoft’s announcement instead names the Snapdragon X2 Plus processor, local AI performance, and specific features. It says the new Surface Pro and Laptop offer up to 95% faster local AI inference than the previous models in its Procyon AI tests. The Pro also adds Ink Canvas, a pen-based app for sketches, annotations, image generation, and summaries. Microsoft says its AI features require a Microsoft 365 subscription and have usage limits.
The shift concerns the marketing label. Microsoft has not announced that existing Copilot+ features are ending, and some Microsoft product pages still use the name. Buyers should treat this as a change in how the new models are presented, while checking feature availability separately.
What the badge used to signal
Microsoft introduced Copilot+ PCs in 2024 as a class of Windows machines with enough local AI processing power for features such as Recall. That hardware threshold helped distinguish the first wave of AI PCs. As more chips meet it, the badge says less about which tasks a particular machine handles well.
The latest announcement gives a more specific comparison, though its 95% figure is Microsoft’s own benchmark against the prior Surface generation. It does not measure every AI task, and Microsoft says performance depends on the configuration. The company lists October 13 availability in select markets, with the new Surface Pro starting at $1,149.99 and Laptop at $1,199 in the US.
