Intel says its new chips will get Copilot Plus PC features via a free update in November

Windows AI features previously only available on Qualcomm-powered PCs will expand to x86 machines in November, according to Intel.

The Verge spotted the information in a press release Intel published about its new Core Ultra 200V processors, codenamed Lunar Lake. In the release, Intel said that all of its new processors in devices running the latest version of Windows will be “eligible to receive Copilot Plus PC features as a free update starting in November.”

Microsoft already said that Intel’s Lunar Lake PCs and AMD’s Strix Point devices would get a free update with Copilot Plus PC features, but this is the closest we’ve gotten to an actual release date. While Intel’s press release only addresses when its own chips will get the update, it’s likely that AMD devices will get the update around the same time.

There are several Copilot Plus PC features, including Auto Super Resolution for boosts frame rates in games by using the neural processing unit (NPU) to upscale content, Cocreate features, Windows Studio Effects and more. There’s also Microsoft’s much-maligned Recall feature, which has been delayed over security concerns. Microsoft recently confirmed it was aiming to release Recall to Windows Insider tests in October ahead of a broader rollout.

While it’s good to see the Copilot Plus PC features expanding to more PCs, I’m much more interested to see how Intel’s Lunar Lake chips stack up to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus. When Microsoft unveiled new Surface laptops and Copilot Plus PCs from other manufacturers in the spring, everything ran on Qualcomm’s chips, a testament to how far Qualcomm’s PC processors have come and, perhaps, to how behind Intel has fallen.

But if Intel’s Lunar Lake chips are as good as Intel says, laptop customers might have quite a few solid options to pick from going forward.

Source: Intel Via: The Verge