The annual Microsoft Build developers officially conference kicks off today — but the tech giant has already revealed a laundry list of AI-centric hardware news. In a jam-packed Monday press conference, Microsoft unveiled one of the biggest changes to the Windows PC landscape in a long time. Copilot+ PCs, led by new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro models, are a promising new line of computers powered by Qualcomm Arm chips that enable significantly improved battery life without (if Microsoft is to be believed) the performance and compatibility compromises that have afflicted earlier Windows-on-Arm iterations over the past dozen or so years. Read our full wrap-up of the Surface/Copilot+ event for the details.  

So what else does Microsoft have up its sleeve this week? Even more AI news, no doubt. With the hardware and Windows 11 news already on the board, CEO Satya Nadella and crew can provide even more detail on how the company's OpenAI partnership will further develop, and how Redmond will continue to counter Google's Gemini upgrades which were announced just last week. 

You can follow along in real-time when the Build keynote starts Tuesday, May 21 at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT, and is scheduled to run for two hours. Watch the entire event live on YouTube (which is also embedded above) and at Microsoft's site (registration required).

If you want even more in-depth Microsoft Build news, there's also a second keynote session on Wednesday entitled Next generation AI for developers with the Microsoft Cloud. That one is scheduled for 11:30 AM ET/8:30 AM PT on May 22 and slated to run for 90 minutes.

This story was originally posted earlier and has been updated to reflect Monday's Copilot+, Surface and Windows 11 announcements.

Springtime means it’s keynote season in the tech world, and in 2024, that means “time to show off your AI bona fides.” Google and OpenAI have already revealed big new upgrades to Gemini and ChatGPT this month, and now it’s time for Microsoft Build. The tech giant’s annual developer conference kicks off with a keynote slated for Tuesday, May 21 at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT, and you can watch the entire event live on YouTube (which is also embedded below) and at Microsoft's site (registration required). What about that Microsoft Surface event you may have heard about? Well, that’s actually happening a day earlier: Monday, May 20 at TK PM ET/TK AM PT. Confused? Don’t worry, here’s the tl;dr version of what to expect, summarized from our more in-depth What to expect from Microsoft Build 2024: The Surface event, Windows 11 and AI.

New Microsoft Surface products expected: Monday, May 20

One day before the official Build keynote, Microsoft is hosting a more intimate event for journalists at which it plans to reveal its "AI vision across hardware and software." That event won’t be livestreamed, but Engadget will have full coverage as it unfolds.

The rumor mill strongly suggests that we’ll see new consumer-targeted Surface PCs. And unlike the enterprise-centric models like the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 introduced back in March, these new models may be powered by updated Qualcomm Snapdragon chips – Arm chips that run cooler and offer far better battery life than their Intel and AMD equivalents, but often at the expense of reduced app compatibility and processing speeds.

Microsoft Build keynote: Tuesday, May 21

The thought is that Microsoft is following the template that its fellow tech giants have demonstrated this season: get the hardware announcements out of the way first, clearing the runway for an all-AI showcase at the developer conference. That’s what happened with Apple and Google in recent weeks, as they respectively revealed new iPads weeks before the WWDC event in June, and a new Pixel 8a phone in the days leading up to Google I/O.

What’s that mean for Tuesday? Last year’s Build announcements give you the general flavor: Microsoft’s Copilot AI (possibly with more impressive OpenAI-powered smarts) integrated into even more of Microsoft’s DNA, likely both at the device level (Windows) all the way up to the company’s massive cloud infrastructure.

While much of Tuesday’s news will be through the prism of Microsoft’s developer community, we’re looking forward to giving you the big picture on what it all means for end users – and how it dovetails with the hardware announcements we expect to hit on Monday. Stay tuned.