Users could, and still can, complete their AI needs in the cloud, which puts a question mark on the immediate value of Copilot+, said Bob O’Donnell, principal analyst at Technalysis Research. “That whole NPU thing becomes kind of silly and non-essential,” he said. “In retrospect, it would have been better, I have argued, if they had released the cloud-AI features first, and then introduced Copilot+.”
Microsoft’s Copilot+ created a higher-priced PC with new AI capabilities, but enterprises mostly didn’t buy into the hype, said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager at IDC. “It promises a certain level of AI performance, but in the last two years, enterprises have found themselves in a tough spot due to the economy and the lack of on-device AI use cases,” he said.
The current crop of Copilot+ PCs failed to generate excitement in the AI PC category, Ubrani said. “It’s helped increase ASPs and differentiate the premium segment from the rest of the pack, but by and large it hasn’t increased the market size in terms of units,” he said.
