AI is moving from a marketing feature to an increasingly important laptop-buying consideration. Amazon India's latest Best in Tech Survey found that 58% of laptop buyers consider upcoming AI features “extremely useful” for productivity. Among specific AI capabilities, on-device AI assistants were the most popular at 28%, followed by AI-processing chips at 25%, AI-powered content creation/editing at 23%, and real-time transcription and translation at 17%.
The strongest signal is the interest in on-device AI. Consumers are not simply asking whether a laptop has AI; they are increasingly interested in hardware capable of running AI locally. This could make features such as assistants, transcription, translation and content creation faster and potentially less dependent on cloud services. At the same time, AI has not replaced traditional priorities: 87% of buyers still rank processor performance first, while RAM, storage and battery life remain important.
The survey also shows that brand loyalty is relatively weak when specifications are better elsewhere. Fifty-three percent of laptop buyers said they would choose another brand if it offered better specifications at the same price, while 48% compare two or three brands before purchasing. This means laptop manufacturers cannot rely on simply putting an “AI PC” label on a machine; they need to demonstrate useful AI capabilities while continuing to deliver strong conventional hardware.
The broader takeaway is that AI could become an important driver of the next laptop upgrade cycle, but usefulness will determine whether the trend lasts. Indian consumers are already becoming familiar with AI on smartphones—71% of smartphone users in a separate CMR study reportedly use GenAI several times a week—so expectations are moving toward AI being built into everyday devices. The laptop market is therefore shifting from asking “Does this device have AI?” to the more important question: “What can the AI actually do for me?”
