Microsoft smartphone (Photo : Retuers)
Microsoft's Surface Pro 5 release date plan is likely not happening this 2016 as a new report indicates that the next-generation Surface family of devices will only see introduction Spring of 2017. The unveiling could include phablet-size Surface Phone models, powered by the Redstone 2-updated Windows 10.
ZDNet reported that Microsoft appears to consolidate its hardware business by selling off the Nokia division and in the process retiring the Lumia smartphone brand. In its stead, the Surface label will be expanded with the company possibly making true of the rumored Surface Phone, only in supersized phablet.
The Surface phablet, the report said, is likely to mirror a number of specifications and features already seen with the HP Elite X3. But its centerpiece functionalities will be built around Windows 10's remote desktop services and Continuum. The latter, as noted by ZDNet, is a built-in Windows feature that allows the use of a powerful mobile device as desktop computer when connected to monitors.
The Surface Phone introduction will also mark Microsoft's impending shift form high-volume, low-cost devices to high-end tablets and smartphones. The target markets for the Surface brand, ZDNet said, would be "business users and flagship fans."
The plan also aligns with the recent sell off the Nokia phone business that was acquired by a Foxconn subsidiary company.
The late 2017 rollout for the next-generation Surface mobile devices is also in line with an earlier report by ZDNet that both the Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2 launch could be moved next year as Microsoft would want the products to run on Kaby Lake platform instead of Skylake. The upcoming Intel chip will not be ready for mass production until late 2016 or early 2017, reports said.
It makes perfect sense too that that Windows-maker would envision the Surface devices to be powered by Windows 10 that has been updated to Redstone 2, said to optimize the Microsoft operating system for cross-platform capabilities.
But in doing so, the Redmond-based tech giant will have to delay the arrival of both the Surface Pro 5 and Book 2, the release dates of which are expected to happen in the immediate months or weeks after the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (codenamed Redstone) rollout that will start June 2016.
