• Front Research
  • Posts
  • Microsoft Launches AI-Focused Copilot+ PCs, Outperforms MacBook Air

Microsoft Launches AI-Focused Copilot+ PCs, Outperforms MacBook Air

+ Get the latest news from the world of tech

Author

Kristoffer Lindström
May 21, 2024

In partnership with

TECH BRIEF

Dell Technologies has released new artificial intelligence (AI) offerings in collaboration with Nvidia and Microsoft. This includes the Dell PowerEdge XE9680L server, designed with liquid cooling and Nvidia Blackwell GPUs for AI workloads, and its NativeEdge, which automates the delivery of Nvidia AI software. Dell also launched AI PCs, with some models featuring Microsoft's AI features and Qualcomm processors. These new offerings aim to cater to professionals and consumers seeking high performance and excellent battery life. Dell's stock fell 2.7%, yet it has risen over 90% since this year's beginning.

Nvidia, the top AI chip supplier, is set to report strong Q1 earnings with a 474% rise to $5.22 per share and 241% uplift in revenue to $24.5 billion, however, a growth deceleration is expected throughout the transition to its new Blackwell chips. With shrinking gross margins potentially leading to stock volatility and slowed sequential growth, analysts remain confident, attributing robust AI spending trends and consistent market share against rising competition.

ByteDance has surpassed Baidu as the leading provider of AI chatbots in China, with its Doubao product becoming the most popular. With almost 9 million downloads by April and over 4 million monthly active users, Doubao has achieved more downloads and a larger active user base than Baidu's Ernie Bot. The data underlines the growing trend of AI popularity in the Chinese market and the tech sector's intensive investment in generative AI.

Microsoft has unveiled its AI-enhanced "Copilot+ PCs", which are touted as being up to 20 times more potent and 100 times more efficient at AI tasks than conventional PCs. Powering these machines are Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus neural processing units, promising processing power exceeding 40 trillion operations per second. Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung will offer Copilot+ PCs from June 18, starting at $999.

The newly approved UK Automated Vehicles (AV) Act clears the path for fully self-driving cars on British roads by 2026. The law nominates corporate liability for any mishaps related to autonomous vehicle functioning. This comes in the wake of UK-based Wayve's over $1 billion funding from companies, including SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft, to further develop a self-learning software system for AVs.

Navan, a $9 billion travel tech firm, is nearing a possible IPO, CEO Ariel Cohen revealed. The travel management platform, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Goldman Sachs, and Lightspeed, is evolving its leadership structure and preparing to turn cash-flow positive this year. The company, growing revenues at 40% on average, plans to introduce a more personalized version of its AI assistant, Ava, within six months.

OpenAI saw a record spike in its mobile app revenue following the GPT-4o launch, with an innovative feature set driving many users to upgrade to the ChatGPT Plus subscription. Demand from mobile users has resulted in the biggest revenue surge the AI firm has experienced, notably in the U.S. and Apple's App Store. According to app intelligence firm Appfigures, revenue growth shows no signs of slowing down.

Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) reported Q1 CY2024 revenue of $1.14 billion, topping Wall Street estimates and marking a 3.2% YoY increase. The company anticipates Q2 revenue to align with analyst estimates at around $1.15 billion. Noteworthy, Zoom posted a non-GAAP profit of $1.35 per share, an improvement from its profit of $1.16 per share in the same quarter last year.

FOCUS TOPICS

Our Focus topics are for members who want to gain an extra advantage. Here, we create news briefing reports for AI, VC & Startups, Consumer Tech, Cloud & SaaS, eCommerce, Social platforms, and Fintech.

Today, you get a free preview of PRO Focus topics.

Unlock by becoming a PRO member for only $5/mo.

Try it for free for 14 days.

AI

Consumer AI apps have seen explosive growth, yet are plagued by high churn rates. As B2B AI apps start to mature, there's concern this trend might continue. Despite a slower uptake due to stringent enterprise requirements, strategies from successful B2B AI first-movers include embedding into incumbent platforms through integrations and partnerships, meeting users in their workflow, creating tangible product output, expanding horizontally across value chains, building data moats, offering multi-modal solutions and capitalizing on network effects, potentially mitigating this churn problem.

Meta AI has introduced Chameleon, a mixed-modal foundation model that efficiently integrates text and images. By employing a unified architecture, Chameleon tokenizes images similar to text and introduces innovative, stable training techniques to rectify optimization issues. Notably, Chameleon surpasses preceding models in vision-language tasks, image captioning, and visual question answering, showcasing its potential for multimodal interaction.

OpenAI has retracted the ChatGPT voice feature, known as Sky, that closely resembled Scarlett Johansson's voice. Sky's voice wasn't reproduced deliberately from Johansson’s but belongs to a different actress, per OpenAI. Despite any legal challenges, OpenAI's new GPT-4o model has made the voice assistant more expressive. The launch of new ChatGPT voice assistant capabilities will launch soon with extra voices to reflect the diverse preferences of users.

VC & STARTUPS

In a bid to address the global teacher shortage, Zen Educate, an online platform connecting teachers to schools, has raised $37M in a Series B funding round. The British company, which replaces high-cost recruitment agencies with a more cost-effective, digital solution, plans to expand following acquisitions like Aquinas Education. The funds will also help boost the platform's features, like school workforce management software. The company currently operates in five US states and eleven regions in England, with intentions to grow further.

In a bid to prop up climate tech startups in the short-term, ETF Partners has secured an oversubscribed €284 million fund. The firm, which prefers to back software-focused companies that can rapidly scale, shuns the adoption of future breakthrough technologies that may take longer to commercialize. A key example is Deepsea, an AI-driven service optimizing maritime operations, reducing global emissions by up to 0.3% with minimal costs.

Anduril, the military defense startup, is reportedly in preliminary talks to raise $1.5 billion, aiming for a valuation of $12.5 billion. This would mark a significant increase from its $8.5 billion valuation a year and a half ago, with the company advising that it doubled its revenue to roughly $500 million last year.

CONSUMER TECH

Actress Scarlett Johansson accused OpenAI of using her voice likeness for its 'Sky' voice assistant without her consent. Despite denying Sam Altman's proposal to voice the ChatGPT 4.0 system, Johansson alleges the voice assistant bears an uncanny resemblance to hers. OpenAI denies these allegations, asserting the voice behind 'Sky' belongs to a different actress, and paused the usage of 'Sky' in their products.

Neuralink has secured authorization to execute a second surgical brain implant, months after the initial procedure on Noland Arbaugh. Aiming to help people with quadriplegia, ALS, and spinal cord injuries, Neuralink is now accepting applications for the second participant. The forthcoming surgery, slated for June, will implant the device's threads deeper into the brain to counter the movement issues encountered in Arbaugh's case.

Apple is reducing prices again on select iPhone models in China amid a slowdown in sales, with discounts up to 2,300 yuan ($318) available on its official Tmall site and JD.Com. Despite a 10% Q1 decrease in iPhone sales YoY, Apple outperformed expectations for revenue in the greater China region, recording $16.4 billion. A resurgence in local firms like Huawei poses an increasing challenge to Apple's position.

Keywords Studios Plc, a renowned game development service provider, witnessed its sharpest stock surge since its 2013 IPO, owing to potential takeover talks with EQT Group. The deal may value the firm over £2 billion ($2.5 billion). The Dublin-based studio has acquired multiple smaller outlets and worked on marquee titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty.

Take-Two Interactive, parent company of Rockstar Games, may set a new pricing precedent with the potential sale of the forthcoming Grand Theft Auto VI for over the current standard of $70 due to increasing game development costs. CEO Strauss Zelnick emphasizes that the company’s pricing philosophy is based on delivering superior value and user experience that outweigh the price tag.

CLOUD & SaaS

In Q1 2024, AWS led the cloud services market with a 31% share, closely followed by Microsoft at 25% and trailing behind was Google at 10%. However, Microsoft outshined its competitors with a 31% sales increase, outpacing AWS's 17% and Google's 28% growth. Major initiatives highlighted AWS's Generative AI Competency program, Microsoft's strengthened partnership with OpenAI, and Google's AI enhancements to Workspaces and Drive. The global cloud infrastructure expenditure rose by 21% to reach $79.8 billion, reflecting the powerful convergence of AI and cloud technology.

Cybersecurity provider Palo Alto Networks reported Q1 CY2024 earnings surpassing analysts' expectations, with a YoY revenue increase of 15.3% to $1.98 billion. Despite the solid results, the company's stock fell 6.7%. The firm anticipates Q2 revenue around $2.16 billion, echoing analyst predictions, and a slight increase in full-year 2024 revenue guidance to $8 billion. Quarterly non-GAAP profit also increased to $1.32 per share. The news comes amidst the rising importance of AI-infused cybersecurity measures necessitated by sophisticated, high-volume threats.

Cloud-based services are the norm for businesses today, according to a study by the Cloud Industry Forum. AWS, Azure, and IBM were the favorite choices, promoting IT spending flexibility and enhanced business agility. Respondents also predicted increasing importance for AI, with 94% utilizing or planning to use generative AI and 78% and 87% aiming for net zero by 2040 and 2050, respectively, reinforcing the persistent relevance of ESG initiatives.

eCommerce

Amazon has announced a partnership with Lucky Supermarkets to offer same-day grocery delivery in select San Francisco Bay Area cities. The deal is a part of Amazon's aim to be the top choice for online and in-store grocery shopping. To mark the launch, Amazon offers free delivery on the first three Lucky orders of $10 or more for Prime members. The announcement is a strategic move amid Amazon's ongoing competition with Walmart for market dominance.

Brazilian government certification for a tax benefit allowing exemption of goods up to $50 from import fees, brought China's e-commerce retailer Temu a step closer to debuting in Latin America's largest economy. This is crucial as Temu's rivals, Shopee of Singapore and China's Shein, already have a substantial presence in the Brazilian online shopping market.

Despite fears of Amazon overtaking Walmart, recent earnings tell a different story. Walmart's revenue increased 6% to $161.5 billion while e-commerce revenues jumped 21%, largely due to store-fulfilled pickups and deliveries. Ironically, Amazon's 13% rise in revenue to $132 billion was predominantly fueled by its AWS cloud business, not its retail operations. Today's competition may indeed be a draw without the buoyancy provided by AWS for Amazon.

Reply

or to participate.