The device will be primarily aimed at the education market

May 21, 2018 04:41 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is believed to be working on a more affordable Surface tablet to tackle a market that Apple is already very active in with its base iPad model, and now a new report provides us with a closer look at the device.

Even though it’s expected to launch sometime this year, the new and cheaper Surface version is very likely to be powered by an Intel processor, according to a report from German site WindowsUnited.

This means that Microsoft won’t embrace the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and as a result, won’t install Windows 10 on ARM on this Surface model. The news is surprising, to say the least, especially as Microsoft has been pushing hard for Windows 10 on ARM to succeed.

But at the same time, it’s also the living proof that Microsoft itself is far from pleased with the way Windows 10 on ARM is doing right now. The first Windows 10 devices powered by Qualcomm chips reached the market earlier this year, and reviews have mostly criticized performance and Win32 software emulation.

Windows 10 on ARM not dead yet

Microsoft appears to be well aware of the limitations that this platform brings, so it doesn’t want to compromise the Surface brand with a device that would fail to deliver the premium performance that all the other models are offering.

At the same time, it looks like Microsoft wants to use the low-cost Surface primarily to target the education market.

Again, Windows 10 on ARM would have made a lot of sense because it would’ve allowed cheaper hardware with decent performance that meets the requirements of students and educators, but by picking Intel, Microsoft just makes sure that everything will run just as planned. In other words, the low-cost Surface is a safe bet from Microsoft, and a Windows 10 on ARM plus Snapdragon chip combo would have created additional risks that the company doesn’t want to take right now.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Windows 10 on ARM is a dead effort either. Microsoft is projected to launch significant upgrades in the next couple of years, and the first wave is expected to make the rounds with the release of the Snapdragon 845 mobile chip that will power first PCs in late 2018.