Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and Lumia 940 could be released simultaneously in August
With a little more than a month from the official commercial release of Microsoft Windows 10, Microsoft is preparing to announce its Surface Pro 4 flagship tablet. Past release dates for Microsoft Surface products have been rather scattered, spanning across all four yearly quarters. Having said that, everyone is expecting the release of Windows 10 as the motivator for a possible August announcement of the tablet PC, alongside the upcoming release in the 3rd quarter of the Apple iPad Air 3, a product in near-direct competition with Microsoft Surface.
In this state of affairs, Microsoft cannot bank solely on Windows 10 to attract customers, which is why it’s possible that the new tablet will sport some cutting edge hardware, to compete with Apple’s offerings, through the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2016. The yet to be announced Intel Skylake processor is in the cards as part of the package, making the Surface Pro 4 one of the first devices to boast a 6th generation Intel processor. Alongside the latest and greatest from Intel, the Surface Pro 4 will also feature what will most likely be the standard specs for future “desktop replacement tablet PCs”, for which we are sure a buzz-word is coming very soon.
These specs are rumored to feature, at least, 2K resolution, 16GB of memory, and 1TB of internal HDD storage, or a similarly priced SSD equivalent, possibly as far as 256GB or even 500GB, as the entry level option. The tablet will also feature two cameras, a front-facing 3.5 MP, and a 8MP rear-facing camera. A stylus is also said to be included out of the box.
A mini option is also in the cards, to cater to entry-level customers.
Pricing should be fairly easy to guess, as most upcoming laptops with similar specs have been already announced within a price range between $700 and $2000, which will depends heavily on customization options.
Lumia 940 and 940 XL
Rumors have been surfacing about the upcoming Lumia 940 and 940 XL Windows Mobile devices to be released alongside the Surface Pro 4. As Microsoft's Director of Phone Marketing, Neil Broadley stated, "We believe the best time to bring those flagship devices to market is when we have our very latest flagship software experience available. We're focusing our flagship development for slightly later when Windows 10 is available.".