We are in the Copilot+ AI PC era whether we like it or not, but x86-based AI PC processors from AMD and Intel will crush Arm-based Copilot+ AI PC laptop sales now, in 2025, and into the future.
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In the coming months we’ll see more and more Arm-based Copilot+ AI PC laptops launch, with analyst firm Omdia’s new AI notebook PC shipment forecast expecting to see Arm-based Copilot+ AI PCs go from 800,000 units sold in 2024, to 5.2 million in 2025: an increase of over 533%.
We keep hearing about Arm breaking into the mainstream Windows market, but the hype of the Copilot+ AI PC laptop era is here and Qualcomm was first with Microsoft to launch the first waves of Copilot+ laptops being powered by company’s Arm-based Snapdragon X series processor.
The headlines I’ve seen from this article — including Omdia itself — are covering the Arm side of things, but look at the chart and compare the x86 to Arm. This year, there will only be 200,000 or so units of x86-based Copilot+ AI PC laptops sold, while in 2025, Omdia predicts an astonishing 34.2 million units — an increase of 17,000% or so.
The reason for the huge increase in x86 AI PC processors, that is because 2025 will include the just-launched Ryzen AI 300 series “Strix Point” APUs which have new XDNA2-based NPUs making them Copilot+ ready. I know, I’m typing this article into an ASUS Zenbook S16 laptop which is powered by AMD’s new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 “Strix Point” APU, and its a Copilot+ AI PC laptop.
Intel has its current-gen Core Ultra 100 series “Meteor Lake” processors with an NPU, but they haven’t been selling millions of units, however, the company is soon to unleash its next-generation Core Ultra 200 series “Lunar Lake” processors with massively upgraded NPU for even more AI performance.
3Between AMD’s new Strix Point APU and Intel’s new Lunar Lake chips, those 34 million+ units in 2025 are impressive up against 5.2 million Arm-based AI PC laptop shipments according to Omdia’s forecast. If we keep going forward, they predict 60.7 million x86-powered AI PC laptops shipped in 2026 compared to just 14.5 million Arm AI PC laptops.
Microsoft has its Arm-based Surface laptops on the market, and will continue to ship even more in 2025, which will be a big chunk of those 5.2 million Arm-based AI PC laptops expected to ship in 2025.