Roger Fingas
Microsoft is reportedly looking to challenge Apple head-on in the tablet market by once again producing a cheaper Surface option, which would compete against Apple's $329 entry-level iPad.
The new Surface may ship as soon as the second half of 2018, and shrink from the 12.3 inches of the Surface Pro to about 10 inches, Bloomberg sources said. Microsoft is also claimed to be rounding off the edges of the chassis, and including USB-C — something so far missing from both the Surface Pro and iPads.
The tablet should also be 20 percent lighter than the Pro, but sacrifice about four hours of battery life. That may not be a great hardship, as that would put the device around or slightly under the 10-hour span of iPads.
Configurations are expected to include 64 or 128 gigabytes of storage, and optional LTE. Less costly versions of the Type Cover, Surface Pen, and Surface Mouse may be available.
An entry-level tablet is anticipated to cost $400, making it more expensive than Apple's equivalent, but with standard advantages of the Surface line including a kickstand and a desktop-level OS, Windows 10 Pro.
Microsoft originally tried to take on the iPad with two Surface tablets, but switched focus to the Pro once it became clear the low-price Surface RT with its own operating system was unpopular. That device was both less powerful than the Pro and unable to run as many apps.
Apple's budget iPad has proven popular, and been heavily marketed towards schools as an alternative to Chromebooks and Windows laptops. Microsoft could be hoping to hold or expand its educational footprint.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
50 Comments
More competition would be better, but one would still have to deal with Windows... and that’s a dealbreaker.
They don't want to make too many laptops because it will annoy their Windows OEM customers, but tablets they can make. It would actually be good to have a proper competitor to the iPad.
It’s dead on arrival.
Be interested to see which CPU would power it... the Core-M (Macbook 12") costs 65% the retail price of this new tablet. One report said it would have an Intel processor, but I don't see many options in that price range that are great options... Maybe it will be the ARM hybrid, but on a higher price computer with that -- it is really sluggish (unusable) for any code that is not optimized for ARM rather than Intel. For education (where basically Apple and Microsoft would be fighting over the higher end of the market - basically high-end crumbs) - they really need more than just a device - they need a device with a modern and well thought out educational curriculum that takes advantage of the device (and that is billions of dollars of investment needed...).