What you need to know
- A new leak appears to reveal the date of the next Surface hardware announcements.
- March 21 is the current working date, which our own sources can confirm.
- Microsoft will ship new Surface PCs in April and June.
Microsoft looks to be gearing up to announce new hardware in March, where the company is expected to unveil updated versions of the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Reliable leaker WalkingCat first posted the potential date of March 21 on X, and my own sources have confirmed this to be accurate.
Late last year, I wrote about Microsoft’s plans for its upcoming Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, which are expected to feature some major upgrades in the form of refreshed designs, new chips, and next-gen NPU silicon that will power some of the upcoming advanced AI features Microsoft is building into the next version of Windows.
In my report, I mentioned that these devices would be announced in the spring. With that in mind, I am now hearing that Microsoft is planning to roll out new hardware in two waves, the first of which will be in April, and the second in June.
I know that the June wave will include the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, as that’s when the first Qualcomm X Series PCs are expected to start shipping across the board. These PCs depend on the Windows Germanium platform release, which won’t RTM until April, making it too late for any PCs launching that month.
That means the April wave will consist of Intel hardware launching with Windows 11 Moment 5, but I don’t believe these will be the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6. According to my sources, Microsoft intends to ship a commercial focused version of Surface Pro and Surface Laptop that feature the current in-market designs, but with newer Intel 14th-gen chips and a scoped set of features designed for commercial customers.
These features include an anti-reflective display, a new NFC reader, and support for Windows Studio Effects. While I don’t know the name of these devices for certain, I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up shipping as the Surface Pro 9+ and Surface Laptop 5+. Microsoft did this with the Surface Pro 7+ back in 2019, which was also a commercial focused release.
As I understand it, consumers will be able to purchase these commercial focused devices if they wish, but the recommendation is to wait for the true Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 coming in June with next-gen Arm chips and updated designs.
Microsoft intends to market the upcoming Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 as its first true AI PCs, and will be some of the first to ship with the new Windows Germanium platform release. The upcoming Windows OS release this fall will enable a number of next-gen AI features designed specifically for this hardware, known as CADMUS PCs internally.
It's unlikely that Microsoft will talk about the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 in March, though it may tease them. I suspect we'll hear more about those devices, along with the next version of Windows, closer to June.
Elsewhere, I also hear Microsoft is planning to ship an updated Surface Laptop Go 4 and consumer-facing Surface Go 4 this year, which are likely to appear in October, if not sooner. That will round off the Surface lineup for 2024.
