Microsoft has renewed its Surface range with two innovative products with a dual-screen: the Duo smartphone, Android, and Neo Hybrid Tablet running Windows 10X. Two almost revolutionary devices that will arrive at the end of 2020.
And if Microsoft was the Apple of the next decade? While the apple firm is struggling to renew itself after creating the iPhone, iPad or MacBook Air, its “sworn enemy” is starting to make its way into the hardware market, and 2020 could even be the Microsoft year. Why? Simply because the Windows editor will launch two innovative devices, as only Apple seemed to be able to.
It was during the presentation of its new Surface ( Pro 7, Pro X and Laptop 3 ) that Microsoft first unveiled the Surface Duo smartphone. It will take a year to see it on the shelves, but the promise is enticing. This is simply the realization of Courier or Centaurus projects, many times announced and visible only in patent applications. This time, it is real, and it is a smartphone equipped with two 5.6-inch screens interconnected by two hinges 360 ° that can multiply configurations.
An Android smartphone
It can thus be laid flat with an 8-inch display surface, greater than that of an iPad mini for example, and the lower part can then turn into a virtual keyboard. The good news is that Microsoft has chosen to run it on Android and that we can, therefore, access all the usual applications to download from the Play Store.
Some should have features dedicated to this type of dual-screen display. By the launch of the Duo, the Huawei and Samsung models will be on the market, and we will already have a taste of these adaptations.
The other big innovation is the Surface Neo, a kind of hybrid tablet, equipped with two 9-inch screens. Again, between the two are the hinges 360 °, and it is not so foldable screen, but two independent screens. And again, we find ideas borrowed Courier and Centaurus projects with a versatility that could appeal to many.