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Microsoft's Surface has gone from a proof of concept into the spearhead of Microsoft's hardware business

Ever since Microsoft debuted the Surface brand v years agone, the Surface Pro has been its high-stop tablet offering, intended as an uncompromising instance of what PCs can offering in this space. For the past eighteen months, the Surface lineup has rested on its laurels with the Surface Pro iv — a solid system based on Intel'due south Skylake processors, simply one that'due south showing some age.

In a contempo interview with CNET, Panos Panay, Microsoft's VP of Devices, declared there's "no such affair" every bit Surface Pro 5, and seemed to dismiss the idea that Microsoft would be launching a new device with that branding in the most-term future.

"When it's meaningful and the change is correct, we'll put it on market," Panay said. "Meaningful alter isn't necessarily a hardware change, which is what a lot of people look for… You'll see that aforementioned meaningful touch when Pro 5, or Pro Next hits the market." Panay than clarified that "in that location'southward no such thing as a Pro 5."

This doesn't jive with previous claims from reputable sources that Microsoft was working on a Pro 5, with Kaby Lake as a drop-in replacement for its Skylake processors.

The simplest explanation is that Microsoft volition refresh the Surface Pro 4 with a new set of fries and leave the rest of the platform unchanged, with a Pro v coming later, at an as-notwithstanding-undetermined date. Panay is setting expectations that Microsoft wants to deliver a new blazon of device with Surface Pro five, something that takes more than incremental steps forward. At that place are potential options for building that kind of device. Microsoft could, for example, be holding off for 10nm CPUs, OLED panels, or other ability-saving features broiled into a later version of Windows 10. Elsewhere in the interview, Panay states that what he'due south looking for is the option to brand major changes to the device itself, whether in thickness or bombardment life, thereby giving people a reason to upgrade that goes beyond just modestly bumping processor functioning.

The ane problem with Panay'southward claims about Surface, nevertheless, is that he argues you can buy a Surface Pro 4 and have a product that's competitive for five more years. This is about certainly bollocks. Lithium-ion batteries always lose significant capacity by then, and in that location's no way to solve that event on Surface, since Microsoft always opts for a sealed-in battery. Panay's comments on these topics can't be trusted — he's the same person who told concerned Surface Pro 3 owners that MS would replace batteries for $200, but to come across the visitor plow around and deny that it had whatever legal obligation to exercise so. Microsoft may accept been legally in the right, merely what it did amounted to a bunko. Redmond did eventually opposite this policy, afterwards significant public outcry, but it still doesn't offer a battery replacement service. While Apple also uses sealed-in batteries, it volition replace your battery out-of-warranty for betwixt $129 and $199, depending on the production.

Panay's comments about Surface Pro 4 being competitive in five years also stretch the boundary of what 'competitive' means. Keeping in mind that the base hardware in a Surface Pro four volition exist 6.5 years quondam by then, no, I wouldn't expect it to exist particularly competitive, anymore than a laptop built in mid-2010 is still competitive with modern systems. Resolutions, battery life, platform power consumption, and low-ability clock speeds may increase more than slowly than they used to, but they exercise increase. But Panay's remarks have been, in our stance, somewhat misinterpreted. He's non challenge that MS is cancelling Surface, just that the company doesn't have any plans to launch a new Pro 5 SKU in the near hereafter.