Microsoft To Unveil New AI Devices On Monday
Microsoft plans to unveil several new AI devices (hardware and software products) related to consumer devices on Monday at its Redmond, Washington campus.
Among the expected announcements are new versions of the Surface Pro tablet and Surface Laptop, both featuring Qualcomm chips based on Arm Holdings’ architecture. Historically dominated by Intel processors, the personal computer market has seen increased competition from Qualcomm and other manufacturers of low-power Arm components.
The new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips include a neural processing unit designed to accelerate AI-focused applications like Microsoft’s Copilot software.
The product event held a day before Microsoft’s annual developer conference, will be attended in person by journalists and industry analysts but will not be live-streamed.
Also Read: Microsoft unveils new Bing with ChatGPT powers
Microsoft aims to maintain its lead in the burgeoning market for AI tools that consumers are willing to pay for. Its partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI has given it an edge over Alphabet in the race among Big Tech companies to dominate this emerging field.
Last week, both OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google showcased competing AI technologies capable of real-time voice interaction, a significant advancement for AI voice assistants. Google also introduced several generative AI features for its search engine.
The PC industry has faced increasing pressure from Apple since the company launched its custom Arm-based chips, which offer Mac computers superior battery life and performance compared to rival chips that consume more energy.
Microsoft enlisted Qualcomm to lead the transition of the Windows operating system to Arm’s chip designs in 2016. Qualcomm’s exclusivity on Microsoft Windows devices ends this year, and other chip designers, including Nvidia, are working on their own Arm-based PC chips, according to previous reports from Reuters.
