Microsoft is preparing an important conference this Monday, May 20 to unveil the future of Windows, but also of its Surface range.
If you have read our schedule of upcoming conferences, you already know this, otherwise, you may have missed this information: Microsoft is preparing a major conference this Monday, May 20 concerning Windows 11, its Surface range and its ambitions in AI.
The event will be presented by Satya Nadella, but will not be broadcast online. Yes, it’s 2024, but Microsoft clearly doesn’t have the budget for a YouTube live stream. The conference will begin at 7 p.m. (Paris time), directly from Microsoft’s premises in Redmond.
We already have a little idea of what to expect from the event.
Windows 11 with AI
On the menu, Microsoft should first present the next version of Windows 11, with a large dose of generative AI. Like Google, the American firm has made a big bet on AI over the past year, and should integrate several functions into its operating system.
We are talking, for example, about an AI Explorer function which should allow the system to “remember” the documents you have consulted to allow you to query them in natural language. AI Explorer should act as a new everyday assistant, and could also analyze the content of windows on the screen in real time. It would, for example, be possible to ask it to compare the contents of two windows, or to find the differences between two photos.
Some of these functions will require a connection to the cloud, while others can run locally on the machine. Indeed, Microsoft wants to launch a new range of devices: AI PCs. They will have a dedicated Microsoft Copilot key and an NPU capable of a calculation speed of 45 TOPS.
Kickoff for AI PCs with Qualcomm
The first partner to integrate a chip with a 45 TOPS NPU is Qualcomm. Other chips are arriving from AMD and Intel for the next generation of PCs. We expect to hear about it at Computex. For now, it is Qualcomm which will be in the spotlight with its Snapdragon X Plus and Snapragon X Elite chips.
Several machines have started to be leaked from Asus, Lenovo and Dell. We can expect to see all the major PC brands unveil their machines from Monday May 20 when the Microsoft embargo is lifted. These new PCs will natively integrate the new version of Windows 11. The latter should finally offer ARM emulation at the level of what Apple offers on its MacBooks.
One of Microsoft’s goals with this conference is to show that the Windows ecosystem has finally caught up with its front-end competitor Apple on the transition to ARM. We will have to wait for the tests to be sure, but the promises seem very strong.
And new Surface PCs
It won’t just be for Qualcomm, Asus, Lenovo and the others, Microsoft should also present a new range of its own machines. Remember that the publisher made a large number of redundancies in its Surface teams at the start of 2023 and Microsoft should now focus on a few product families. So no more Surface Studio, headsets and earphones or even the Surface Laptop Studio.
We should still be able to get our hands on a new generation of Surface Pro, the tablet with an optional keyboard, and the Surface Laptop, a more direct competitor to the MacBook Air. The Surface Pro should be offered with an LCD or Oled panel, to be chosen during configuration. The Surface Laptop would be entitled to a completely new design thanks to the integration of a low-consumption ARM chip.
And the Microsoft Build
After its conference on May 20, Microsoft will open its major annual event dedicated to developers: Microsoft Build. It will be held in Seattle from May 21 to 23 and Microsoft is expected to present new features for developers across its entire ecosystem: Azure, AI, Microsoft 365, Xbox, etc.