Microsoft has put the Surface Duo up for preorder.
While Microsoft had revealed the design of the Surface Duo back in October, the company has kept the specs relatively secret. The device includes two separate 5.6-inch OLED displays (1800 x 1350) with a 4:3 aspect ratio that connect together to form a 8.1-inch overall workspace (2700 x 1800) with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Unlike foldables like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, the Surface Duo is using real Gorilla Glass, and the displays are designed to work in a similar way to multiple monitors on a Windows PC.
One big question over the Surface Duo has been the camera. Microsoft is using an 11-megapixel f/2.0 camera, which will include auto modes for low light, HDR multi-frame captures, and a “super zoom” up to 7x. Both 4K and 1080p video recording will be supported at 30fps and 60fps, with electronic image stabilization. There’s only a single camera on the Surface Duo, which can be used both for video calls and as a main camera.
The basic Surface Duo hardware also consists of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, 6GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage. LTE is available on T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, but there’s no 5G support at all. Microsoft is also shipping a bumper cover in the box, designed to protect the Duo.
That’s a lot of money for what are last year’s specifications, especially regarding the camera and SoC. Sure, this is a new kind of device category, but I have a hard time seeing any mass-market appeal in a device like this matched with such a high price.
It seems like every company except Apple does this when they try to create something new. I guess that’s the disadvantage of having to develop full products without control over the underlying platforms.
To be fair though, Apple does often lag behind when it comes to the product built on a platform they don’t control, just like everyone else – the MacBook line.
@ Thom Holwerda
I think the device pricing is intended to NOT have mass-market appeal. The way I understand the Surface line of products is that Microsoft is trying to show device manufacturers what they can do with it’s software and how to sell it to customers. You can say that the whole Surface line doesn’t have mass-market appeal but Microsoft was able to pull off the “cool factor” that was pushing more “cool factor” motivated buyers to buy Macs and while it might not seem like much, retaining those buyers is financially less taxing than designing a whole line of hardware. Also the “cool factor” affects the average buyer’s perspective.
Another point is that Microsoft needed to be able to introduce devices to the market that OEMs weren’t going to introduce until they were proven to be profitable. Surface does that. I’m a huge Surface fan myself even though I can get the same performance from a cheaper device, but only when manufacturers bother to make it. Look at the Surface Pro X. I don’t know of any other ARM based Windows tablet that is as capable, beautiful, and light weight. Microsoft was showcasing Windows on ARM for a while before they introduced the Pro X. Maybe they should be involved in the design process to introduce other optimizations like the collaboration with Qualcomm over the chip running the Pro X.
I think Microsoft wants to learn how to address the market through Surface but doesn’t want to be the hardware industry.
I agreed Walid.
I doubt this is a mass market targeted device, it feels like an attempt to get a chunk of the business world onto a MS hardware platform. I’d say the old Blackberry users will be super keen to give these devices a spin.
I too immediately wondered if there will eventually be an ARM / Windows version of this Android device?
This is not a device targeting the same mass market like the discussion we had in the recent E Ink demo device thread. I don’t know why all these discussions so frequently immediately target mass market concerns of bespoke devices. This is clearly not a mass market device, but that is not to say it won’t end up like Surface and garnishing a wider appeal than it’s targets.
There have been a lot of great mass-market devices of every kind that the remaining areas for new comers to attract are the niche and specialty. I don’t think Microsoft would want to compete with Samsung or even smaller players because it would only be differentiated with software which they can do by getting those manufacturers to install it without making the whole device. Having a niche device optimized for one kind of user will allow Microsoft to serve that sector better and still have a good relationship with all Android device manufacturers who Microsoft would want to preferably pre-install Microsoft’s software on said devices. I have to say that I like the Surface Duo for what it does but I’m not in need of a new phone right now and the price is a little steep for me.