The lines didn't snake along the parking lots like the game system drops on Black Friday, but make no mistake. The launch this week of Microsoft's new AI-powered laptop, the Copilot+ PCs, marks the beginning of a possible electronics renaissance for Best Buy.
The Richfield-based electronics chain has the broadest assortment of new Microsoft laptops in the country and saw its stock hit a 52-week high on Tuesday, after Copilot+ PCs fell, as investor A.I. Jumped on the bandwagon. Hopes are high that the technology could be the right shot in the arm for Best Buy, which has struggled to reverse declining sales over the past two years.
“It can do everything from taking a stick figure and turning it into a beautiful drawing, to some of the productivity tools we're all getting used to — write your emails, write your thank you, write your polite decline.” CEO Corey Berry said at Oppenheimer's annual virtual conference last week. “All those things will become more common. And that's the sweet spot for us.”
Best Buy, like many retailers, has seen sales drop from pandemic highs when people were hungry to keep supplies in their homes. The lack of really significant upgrades to phones and gaming systems over the past few years hasn't helped.
In a note to investors this week, Michael Lasser, a Minneapolis-based retail analyst for UBS Global Research, called Best Buy shares “fully charged” for a rally due to a number of factors, including Copilot+ PCs computers. Not only do the new laptops have AI functions, but their battery life and processing speed appear to be ahead of comparable models, Lasser said.
Global tech market analysis firm Canalys predicts that AI-enabled computers will be mainstream by 2025 and that more than 50% of all PCs shipped worldwide will be AI-enhanced in 2026.
“It should be clear that [Best Buy’s] Market share tends to flourish in the early stages of the product cycle,” Lasser wrote.
Best Buy is “well positioned” because it's one of the few retailers that sells electronics “with a differentiated store experience.”
A big test for Copilot+ PCs and Best Buy will be whether parents and students shopping at the end of summer will upgrade to AI devices for back-to-school or wait for further developments.
When Copilot+ PCs officially hit stores on Tuesday, many people got their first chance to see the first wave of “next-generation computing” with AI features embedded directly into their hard drives.
Microsoft laptops can summarize a web page or article with the click of a button or create a stunning picture of a corgi walking along the beach based on a few words used in seconds—something that could be seen in sci-fi. It seemed out of place. The film's release marked the beginning of a new category of mainstream computers with built-in artificial intelligence technology that has the power to do all these tasks and more.
Best Buy offers more than 40 models of Copilot+ PCs and is the exclusive retailer for about 40% of them. In preparation for the launch, Best Buy announced that it had recently trained 30,000 store employees and Geek Squad support specialists in computer skills. Starting Saturday, Geek Squad AI experts will demo and train in hundreds of stores.
On Tuesday, decorative cubes in front of Best Buy's Minnetonka store told customers it was the start of “a new AI era.” A new shiny and bright section of the store showcased the lineup of Copilot+ PCs and tablets.
“I'm definitely trying. [Copilot+ PCs] to see which one is best for my needs for school,” said Jake Farinella, 17, a rising senior at Mound Westonka High School. “I just love the performance. Since it has built-in AI, it can easily summarize articles and analyze them for me and break it down into a few paragraphs. … I think it will definitely be useful.”
Farinella, who has used the popular online AI tool ChatGPT and Google's Gemini chatbot, created a digital image of a robot when he tested the laptop's image creator function in the store on Tuesday afternoon.
One of the biggest features of Copilot+ PCs is Cocreator, a paint upgrade that enhances your drawings in real time. There's also a Studio Effects option that lets you blur, enhance lighting, and animate yourself during video calls.
Copilot+ PCs in stores without the previously announced “Recall” feature that periodically takes snapshots of what's displayed on the computer screen, which some critics were concerned about. Prior to launch, Microsoft announced that it would delay the “recall” from being “widely available” outside of a select group of Windows early adopters.