Microsoft Unveils New AI-Powered PCs with Qualcomm Chips

Advanced Devices Promise Enhanced AI Features and Extended Battery Life

Microsoft has announced a new lineup of AI-powered PCs, featuring advanced Qualcomm chips designed to support AI functionalities without draining battery life. This announcement was made on Monday at a press event at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington.

The tech giant introduced a Surface Laptop and a Surface Pro tablet, both equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus processors. These devices can perform AI tasks offline, enhancing user experience with features like Microsoft's Copilot AI chatbot. Other major computer manufacturers, including Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus, Acer, and Samsung, are also launching AI-ready PCs powered by the same Qualcomm processors.

Microsoft revealed that future PCs equipped with AMD and Intel chips will also meet the Copilot+ standard. These new devices will offer features such as translating audio, recommending responses to messages, suggesting changes in the Settings app, and interacting with users about on-screen content. The Copilot+ PCs will start at $999, with pre-orders available now and devices shipping in June.

One standout feature, Recall, allows users to search through logs of previous actions on their PCs using AI models that run directly on the device, ensuring data privacy by keeping the index local. Additionally, these models can generate images from written descriptions or drawings.

The new PCs mark a significant shift, allowing some AI models to run locally without requiring an internet connection, a feature previously limited to cloud-based computing on Microsoft’s Azure.