Microsoft Supposedly Developing Surface 2 Follow Up

Brian P. Rubin -

A new report out of WinBeta Wednesday says that Microsoft has a follow-up to the Surface 2—the one running Windows RT, not Windows 8.1—in the works. We’ve heard this before (and before that, too), and so far, that particular rumor has yet to come true. Interestingly, the report also claims that while it won’t be a Pro, it won’t run Windows RT, seemingly confirming the hopes Microsoft has for Windows 10 to be all things to all devices.

Microsoft might be undercutting the Surface Pro 3’s value by releasing a non-Pro iteration of the device.

According to the post, the in-development tablet is seen as a “successor to the Surface 2.” It will lack a fan (much like the recently revealed MacBook out of Apple), and it’ll pull that trick off by relying on an Intel ATOM or Core M processor, though the post explains “we’re not too sure which one they’ve opted for just yet.”

Additionally, the post claims that it will be announced sometime before—or to coincide with—Microsoft’s annual Build conference, slated for late April/early May, which is pretty much right around the corner. The post also adds that the Surface 2 follow-up (or Surface 3…whatever they end up calling it) will launch running Windows 8.1, but will be ready to upgrade to Windows 10 when that comes out in June. In short, it seems likely that if this thing is actually happening, we’ll see it very, very soon.

On the other hand, the Surface Pro 3 represents a pretty solid win for Microsoft, having turned the company’s fortunes around with regard to that device line. Part of that success, I believe, has come from the fact that there’s only one device to worry about. The non-Pro versions of the Surface always seemed superfluous, and tough to describe to non-experts. I don’t quite know how Microsoft hopes to market this new Surface 3 to consumers without totally confusing them.

Then again, maybe it’ll hit the sweet spot as far as functionality and price are concerned if it’s running Windows 10. It sounds like Microsoft has a lot of faith in the operating system, since it’ll live inside of PCs, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones in one form or another. In the meantime, can we all agree that Microsoft still isn’t bringing the Surface Mini back to life?

Good.

[Source: WinBeta]