14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Surface Duo, the software giant’s first Android device with phone capabilities, is unlikely to come with 5G support at first.
Panos Panay, the head of Microsoft’s hardware team, said during an event on Berlin (via WinFuture) that it would take some time until 5G support is added to the Surface Duo, suggesting this feature won’t be available at launch.
Specifics on the debut of 5G on Microsoft’s mobile devices haven’t been provided, but given this statement, there’s a good chance that the company would just have to wait until the second-generation model comes out.
In other words, the first-generation Surface Duo is very likely to land with 4G LTE support and the next model, which is expected to feature an upgraded chip, could support 5G speeds too. The 2020 Surface Duo will run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor.
Duo coming by the holiday of 2020
Microsoft announced Surface Duo during the company’s hardware event on October 2, but the device won’t go on sale until the holiday season of 2020. At some level, this means Duo will be late to the party when the 5G version lands, especially as the majority of phone makers are already adding 5G support to their devices as we speak.
The 2020 iPhone generation due in September is also expected to come with a 5G chip developed by Qualcomm.
Surface Duo is a device that took many by surprise, especially because it runs Android. In essence a dual-screen device, Duo isn’t powered by Microsoft’s dual-screen operating system called Windows 10X most likely because it needs a strong app ecosystem to make the most of its capabilities.
Microsoft going for Android, however, is an unexpected decision, especially as the company would retire its own mobile platform called Windows 10 Mobile in December.