While Qualcomm has taken the lead with Copilot Plus PCs, Intel and AMD are gearing up to launch their own range of Copilot Plus PCs later this year with questions now being raised about Copilot+ inclusions.
It appears that there is no uncertainty whether the upcoming PCs from the two processor companies will have any of the new AI features at launch, according to The Verge.
Each of the new laptops will require free software updates before they get Microsoft’s Copilot Plus AI features.
“Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix PCs are Windows 11 AI PCs that meet our Copilot+ PC hardware requirements. We are partnering closely with Intel and AMD to deliver Copilot+ PC experiences through free updates, when available,” read a statement from Microsoft marketing manager James Howell to The Verge.
“Lunar Lake will get the Copilot+ experiences via an update when available,” Intel PR manager Thomas Hannaford told The Verge’s founding member Sean Hollister.
Intel has revealed details regarding its latest Lunar Lake processor, which is set to power laptops by the end of the year.
Lunar Lake is an overhaul that arrives straight after Intel’s Core Ultra (Meteor Lake). The company has referred to this as its biggest architectural shift in 40 years.
Lunar Lake will be an on-system chip that has a promised 14 per cent faster CPU performance at the same clock speed as Meteor Lake, as well as a 50 per cent boost in graphics performance, and up to 60 per cent better battery life.
Lunar Lake hasn’t been built using an Intel process, instead, it was built on TSMC’s 3nm node.
Lunar Lake, according to Intel, will have more than triple the AI performance of the current Meteor Lake models, supporting over 40 trillion NPU operations per second.
Intel has said that it expects its Lunar Lake chip to be introduced in more than 80 new laptops from over 20 hardware partners.
Apart from Intel, Qualcomm’s other two rivals, AMD and Nvidia, too have not confirmed that AI features will be immediately available on their Copilot+ PCs upon release.
AMD PR manager Matthew Hurwitz also noted that it could not confirm AI features would be available at launch and instead pointed out to the end of the year as a possible timeframe as to when those updates will be available on its PCs. “We expect to have Copilot+ experiences by the end of 2024,” he told me.
Nvidia too said that its Windows 11 AI PCs will receive a free update to Copilot+ PC experiences “when available.”
