Earlier today, rumors popped up that Microsoft may be thinking about killing its Surface line of tablets. The rumor was started by the folks over at DigiTimes, which is known for using barely credible (but on the rare occasion marginally accurate) sources.
The company went to the top of the food chain and got CEO Satya Nadella to talk about the commitment to the products in a new blog post. But taking a step beyond that, Microsoft also confirmed that it"s working on a new Surface Pro model. Microsoft says that their post today was not related to the Digitimes post but simply good timing.
In the post, Microsoft said the following:
...we are pleased to share that the following Surface Pro 3 accessories are designed with our product roadmap in mind and will be compatible with the next generation of the “Pro” line of Surface
There is no questioning that phrasing: Microsoft is working on a new Pro model of the Surface, and it will be compatible with the current generation of peripherals. That"s not a huge surprise considering that the Pro 2 peripherals were compatible with the Pro 3.
The wording does raise a few questions, though, as Microsoft only mentions the Pro line of tablets and not the ARM-based line. While it may be a bit premature to say that the non-Pro line of tablets is going away, we do know there are some significant changes occurring with the OS in Windows 10, so it would not necessarily be a huge surprise to see it gone.
Microsoft has dumped a lot of money in to Surface marketing, with a huge NFL deal, it would be a disaster for them to stop making the devices right now, which is likely why Microsoft came out strongly refuting the rumors.
Source: Microsoft