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Staggered feature releases make me ask "what even is a Copilot+ PC?"
Microsoft has a big update for Copilot+ PCs powered by Intel or AMD processors. Several features previously exclusive to Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon chips inside are rolling out to the rest of the Copilot+ PC family.
Live Captions, Cocreator, Restyle Image, and Image Creator are among the features on the way to Copilot+ PCs with either AMD Ryzen AI 300 series or Intel Core Ultra 200V chips. Until recently, those experiences have been exclusive to Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs like the Surface Pro 11.
Several features improve accessibility and make communication easier. Live Captions offers real-time translation for audio and video content ranging from conference calls to podcasts.
Other features, such as Cocreator, Restyle Image, and Image Creator focus on content creation. Overall, Copilot+ PCs will be more capable and accessible thanks to the new features.
Some of the experiences are already available for Copilot+ PCs with Intel or AMD processors through the March 2025 Windows non-security preview update. Microsoft will roll out the features gradually to more PCs over the coming month.
Staggered feature releases
'Semantic Search' is another new feature that will be exclusive to Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon chips at first.
(Image credit: Future | Daniel Rubino)
The rollout of the new features to Copilot+ PCs is good news, but it also flags up inconsistency across the Copilot+ PC brand.
The Copilot+ PC launch was far from smooth. Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden called it a "total disaster." Many are still confused about Copilot and the various devices and services that include that name.
Several tools by the tech giant are called Copilot. There are also Copilot+ PCs and Copilot Pro knocking about. Many items and services that feature the word "Copilot" are separate or largely unrelated, apart from the fact that they all involve AI in some capacity.
For example, you can run Copilot on non-Copilot+ PCs without any issues.
The fact that the best AI PCs are not all Copilot+ PCs hurts Microsoft's messaging as well.
But perhaps the most confusing aspect is that there are several types of Copilot+ PCs that do not have the same features.
Live Captions, Cocreator, Restyle Image, and Image Creator were all exclusive to Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs until today's announcement. Microsoft's highly anticipated "Semantic Search" is in testing among Insiders but is also exclusive to Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs for now.
Even in today's blog post about AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs getting previously Snapdragon exclusive features, Microsoft announced a new feature that, you guessed it, is exclusive to Snapdragon Copilot+ PCs for now.
"We’re also excited to introduce unique Voice Access capabilities for Copilot+ PCs, which are now available on Snapdragon X Series-powered devices and will roll out to others later this year," said Microsoft.
Voice Access simplifies PC control with your voice. The feature lets you use natural language to input commands. It looks like a great feature. It's just a shame it's locked behind a certain chip architecture at the moment.
Honestly, at this point I have to ask, "what even is a Copilot+ PC?"
There are some things that people can guarantee a Copilot+ PC will have regardless of the chip inside. All Copilot+ PCs have an NPU, for example.
But what you can do with those NPUs differs depending on if your Copilot+ PC has a Snapdragon chip or is powered by Intel or AMD.
Maybe Microsoft should have a tiered system for Copilot+ PCs. Perhaps Copilot -, Copilot+, and Copilot².
Hope you enjoyed this news post.
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