Comment Microsoft suspects that a “transformative shift” is being driven in personal and enterprise computing by its Copilot+ PCs and an expanding Windows on Arm ecosystem.
Copilot+ PCs? Customers just aren’t buying it – yet
Enterprise customers clearly don’t agree, or at least they didn’t in January, when analysts spoke of tepid sales figures. Many biz users felt the 57 percent higher average purchase price and a lack of killer apps just didn’t tick the box.
When we looked again in July, the situation wasn’t any better. Businesses didn’t care about exclusive features such as Recall. Yet Microsoft likes to try, try, and try again to convince customers it knows best.
In its latest promotional post, Microsoft lists several applications that have been ported to the Windows on Arm architecture and touts the “breakthrough performance” of Copilot+ PCs.
Having spent some quality time in the company of a Surface Laptop 7 with Arm and AI silicon beneath the keyboard, the only real breakthrough is likely to come from a fist through the screen when the device forgets where the cursor is or stutters through an occasional mystery slowdown.
According to Microsoft: “The introduction of Copilot+ PCs marks a significant moment for the PC industry.”
This is undoubtedly true… for AI PC makers. It’s not so much a benefit to users as it is for the bottom line of the hardware brands and Microsoft itself. HP, for example, stated that AI PCs now account for a quarter of its sales, with their higher price tags contributing to revenue growth. Dell and Intel have similarly been pushing AI-ready technology on customers.
Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC post talks up the power of “enhancing productivity” and of unlocking “new experiences,” yet most of the apps it lists are ports of existing tools and apps rather than anything new and innovative for which all that exotic AI silicon is absolutely needed.
Letting the neural processing unit inside a Surface Laptop make the user’s eyeballs appear to look into a camera during a video call might have a certain appeal – to some – but it’s hardly a vital use for the technology. If it weren’t for the impending end of support for many versions of Windows 10 and the stringent hardware compatibility requirements of Windows 11, it’s unlikely that large numbers of users would go anywhere near an AI PC.
Microsoft also deployed the usual hyperbole around battery life for its Arm-based devices, claiming up to 15 hours of web browsing and 22 hours of local video playback. As with many battery life claims, caution is advised. We managed to get ten hours out of the device while performing productivity tasks. Not bad, but not class-leading.
Windows on Arm has been around for years. In 2018, we reported on Windows on Snapdragon, which demanded a high price for something that didn’t even have a native version of Office at the time. Microsoft claimed impressive battery life at that point too, but running anything that required Intel emulation was largely catastrophic for battery life.
Satya Nadella says AI is yet to find a killer app that matches the combined impact of email and Excel
Microsoft now claims the app gap is now almost a non-issue: Arm-native versions of apps represent “90 percent of total user minutes… Consumers and developers alike are excited by the possibilities Copilot+ PCs offer.”
The post betrays Microsoft’s unease about users eyeing Apple Macs as they bin their Windows 10 devices, complete with benchmarks (unsurprisingly) showing Copilot+ PCs running circles around MacBooks. It also makes clear another uncomfortable truth.
Windows on Arm Copilot+ PCs can run many apps users are familiar with natively, yet those same apps will work perfectly well on hardware without on-device AI technology.
Without something that absolutely must have those “on-device AI capabilities,” The Reg suspects that when we next revisit those Copilot+ and AI PC figures, the big talk still won’t match the sales volume. ®
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