Microsoft is hosting a digital event titled “Advancing the new era of work with Copilot” on March 21st, where several announcements are anticipated, including the introduction of new Surface devices, potentially branded as AI PCs. Notably, this will be the second Windows hardware event, marking the first mainline Surface Pro launch without former chief product officer Panos Panay, who departed for Amazon last year.
The event is described as focusing on “scaling AI in your environment with Copilot, Windows, and Surface.” Reports suggest conflicting information regarding what to expect in late March.
The spotlight will be on an OLED Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, featuring upgraded processors for substantial performance and efficiency enhancements compared to their predecessors. The event may primarily showcase the business and commercial-focused versions of these devices, with more subtle upgrades than their consumer counterparts. It’s suggested that the consumer variants with a more significant redesign will follow later this spring.
The new devices are rumoured to be powered by Intel Core Ultra or Snapdragon X Elite processors, equipped with next-generation neural processing units (NPUs) for advanced AI tasks. Intel variants are anticipated to debut in April, while Arm-based Snapdragon versions are expected to arrive several months later in June. This would mark the first inclusion of an Arm-based version in the Surface Laptop line.
In the consumer models, the Surface Pro 10 is speculated to adopt an anti-reflective OLED screen, offering increased brightness and support for HDR content. Meanwhile, the Surface Laptop 6 may feature thinner display bezels with rounded corners and a haptic touchpad. Updated port selection may include two USB-C and one USB-A on its left side.
The commercial/business models, possibly the main focus of this month’s event, are rumoured to include a built-in Common Access Card (CAC) reader and options with up to 64GB of RAM.
The new consumer-facing Surface Pro and Surface Laptop are expected to lead Microsoft’s push for Windows 11-powered AI PCs. They are anticipated to be among the first devices featuring an on-device version of Copilot. Other rumoured AI features include real-time captioning and translation, game upscaling and frame-rate smoothing, upgraded Windows Studio Effects, and a feature called AI Explorer, with both devices equipped with a dedicated Copilot key.
AI Explorer is speculated to include a searchable built-in timeline, akin to the third-party Rewind AI app for macOS, allowing users to sift through their device’s history using natural language queries. Additionally, Copilot may be instructed to remove backgrounds from on-screen images from third-party apps in the Photos app.
These AI features, expected to arrive in this year’s annual feature update for Windows 11 (version 24H2) in the fall, are not anticipated to be exclusive to Surface devices. However, it remains unclear whether Microsoft will delve into these features during the March event.
