While the first batch of PC Copilot+ will be made available to the general public on June 18, Microsoft is backtracking on one of the product’s flagship features: Windows Recall. As a reminder, this new feature was announced for the first time on May 20, at the same time as the Copilot+ PCs. Its goal is simple: to take screenshots at regular intervals in order to offer users the possibility of finding everything they have viewed on their computer. These can be web pages, images, documents, emails or even presentations, etc.
During its announcement, Microsoft assured the public that Windows Recall processed data locally, and would keep everyone’s information secure, but the general public’s concerns are particularly critical (and rightly so) when it comes to data security , got the job done. In a post left on the Windows Blog, the company announced that it was postponing the function, nevertheless still making it accessible to users affiliated with the Windows Insider program.
A difficult pill to swallow
This postponement comes as Microsoft has already tried to ease tensions regarding its new function: earlier in the month, the firm was able to announce that Windows Recall would not be able to capture photos of the user’s screen without its permission. Microsoft was also able to reaffirm its security ambitions, adding that Recall would use decryption via the improved Windows Hello connection. In the same way, the screenshots would only be decrypted after user authentication, and would remain on the device, locally, whatever happened. Finally, Microsoft had made a commitment that these regularly captured images would not be used to train artificial intelligence.
Despite all these assurances, Windows Recall was ultimately postponed to an unknown later date in the face of public pressure. It must also be said that the first feedback on Copilot+ as a whole is far from rave: some Reddit users have already received their new PC equipped with the Snapdragon X Elite processor, and have taken the opportunity to perform some benchmarks. So, when Qualcomm announced its new PC chips, the illustrated scores on Geekbench went up to 3000 in single-core and 15,000 in multi-core. Some Internet users who received their model then did the same test and came to a different conclusion: 1841 in single-core and 11,537 in multi-core. Despite everything, no trend can be detected in this regard, the returns being only sporadic.
Thus, in addition to the controversies linked to the potential intrusion of Windows Recall (which will eventually arrive despite users’ concerns), if the performance of the chips leaves something to be desired, this could have a significant impact on the success of this new Copilot+ PC range. Note that the Numériques editorial team is currently carrying out tests on a Copilot+ PC, and will not fail to inform you about the content of the latter’s performances in order to see if they correspond with certain anticipated user feedback.