Surface Duo 2 Likely To Launch At Microsoft’s Newly Announced September 22 Surface Event
There's no doubt that the headlining device at the event will be the Surface Duo 2, which leaked in the flesh in late July, and hit the benchmark circuit last week. The overall form-factor of the device will match that of its predecessor, but it will feature much more powerful hardware thanks to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC and 8GB of RAM compared to its predecessor's Snapdragon 855 and 6GB of RAM. And while the original Surface Duo puzzled many by only supporting 4G LTE cellular connectivity, the Surface Duo 2 has native 5G support.
It will be interesting to see how Microsoft prices the Surface Duo 2, given that the original debuted at a pricey $1,399.
The teaser image for the event shows what appears to be a Surface Pro-esque device, so we should expect to see the usual yearly updates for that device. The last update to the family came in early January with the Surface Pro 7 Plus. This convertible brought 11th generation Intel Tiger Lake processors, up to 15 hours of battery life, a user-replaceable SSD, and optional 4G LTE connectivity. Would it be possible for a Surface Pro 8 to debut with 12th generation Intel Alder Lake processors under the hood?
According to Windows Central, Microsoft may also introduce a successor to the Surface Book 3, adopting the Surface Laptop Pro or Surface Laptop Studio branding instead of Surface Book 4. According to the publication, the device will have a trick "pull forward" 14-inch display instead of one that detaches. It's also rumored to come equipped with current-generation GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs, a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate display, and a new Surface Pen that supports haptic feedback.
We expect both the Surface Pro 8 and Surface Book 4 (or whatever it ends up being called) to feature tight integration with Windows 11, which is set to launch on October 5th.
