14 DAY TRIAL // Photos of the next Microsoft Surface Pro got leaked a few minutes ago, providing us with a quick glimpse into how the Redmond-based software giant is refreshing its successful 2-in-1 lineup.
As you can see in these photos published on VentureBeat, the new Surface Pro looks very similar to the existing generation, though some improvements can be spotted as well, including the Alcantara keyboard that Microsoft introduced with the Surface Laptop.
The upgrade will mostly concern the hardware and will include Kaby Lake processors, and possibly more RAM and storage. The Surface Pen will also get a small upgrade, though its specs will be mostly the same.
To launch as “Surface Pro”
An interesting change concerns the name of the next model, as Microsoft will simply call it “Surface Pro” and not Surface Pro 5 or a variation of the Surface Pro 4.
It appears that, with this name change, Microsoft wants to simplify its product lineup and avoid reaching a higher increment in a few years when new-generation Surface models will launch.
The keyboard and the Surface Pen will be offered in a choice of four colors, and the aforementioned source says that these will be similar to the ones on the Surface Laptop, though we shouldn’t expect the same versions that include Charcoal, Burgundy, Platinum, and Teal. This is most likely because Microsoft wants to make a clear difference between the Surface Pro and the Surface Laptop and offering different colors appears to be an easy way to do that.
The new Surface Pro 4 model will go live on May 23 in Shanghai, with sales likely to begin next month, while pre-orders will probably kick off just after the event.
As for the next-generation Surface Pro lineup, Microsoft’s Surface boss Panos Panay says that a new model is not yet on the radar, though a bigger upgrade is expected in the fall of this year when a new Surface Book laptop is also likely to launch.
