Dell arrived at CES 2026 with a subdued message about artificial intelligence, telling customers that hardware upgrades and familiar performance characteristics will take precedence over bold AI-first claims. Company executives acknowledged that despite having neural processing units in all new models for 2026, consumers are not being motivated to replace or upgrade their machines by AI marketing.
Kevin Terwilliger, Dell's head of product, said in an interview before CES and during CES week that the company intentionally changed its approach. “One of the things you're noticing is that the message we're sending around our products is not AI-first,” he said, adding, “They're not buying based on AI.” Terwilliger went on to say, “In fact, I think it's probably more likely that AI will confuse them than it will help them understand certain outcomes.” The comments marked Dell's public retreat from the high-profile AI messaging it used a year ago.
Dell's decision to halt marketing efforts did not mean the company was abandoning its AI capabilities. Terwilliger acknowledged that “everything we're announcing has an NPU in it.” This means Dell's new laptops and desktops are equipped with specialized neural processing hardware aimed at accelerating on-device AI tasks. The distinction between simply shipping AI-enabled components and building a marketing narrative around AI was central to Dell's strategy at the show.
This pivot reflects broader industry frictions. Jeff Clark, Dell's chief operating officer, acknowledged the mismatch between early expectations and actual customer demand, describing the situation as “this unmet promise of AI and the expectations of AI are driving end-user demand.” This reality comes amid a big push from Microsoft and its chip partners to differentiate their machines with Copilot+ certification, a designation that requires an NPU with more than about 40 trillion calculations per second. Not all devices with AI-enabled hardware meet that threshold, and older PCs with powerful GPUs may run many AI workloads without being certified as Copilot+ or certified by marketing departments to classify them as AI PCs.
Dell executives cited consumer research that shows buyers are primarily concerned about battery life, display quality, price, reliability, and devices that “feel fast today.” CES' message to retailers and reviewers was practical. The idea was to prioritize tangible, familiar benefits over speculative and hard-to-communicate AI features. The company also used the show to revive its XPS line for 2026. This is a product movement aimed at acknowledging past failures and reconnecting with customers on traditional design and performance grounds.
This change affects PC manufacturers, software partners, and consumers. The lesson for vendors is that hardware upgrades alone cannot justify a serious marketing pivot unless the user benefit is clear and immediate. For Microsoft and Copilot+ deployments, Dell's position complicates the industry consensus that only AI capabilities will drive upgrades after Windows 10 reaches end of support in 2025. For consumers, this change may result in clearer purchasing guidance and fewer confusing claims, but it will also slow mainstream exposure to on-device AI capabilities.
From a practical standpoint, Dell's CES stance suggested a recalibration rather than a retreat. The company is making the strategic choice to build AI-enabled machines while selling them on familiar and demonstrable benefits. How competitors respond will determine whether AI becomes a selling point or recedes into a background feature of modern PCs.
