Microsoft has long been reported to be holding a new Surface-themed event this spring, as it tends to do around that time of the year, with one of the biggest announcements being the purported Surface Laptop 4. A new report by Brad Sams of Petri suggests that some peripherals may also be introduced at the event, however, specifically a new webcam.
The report doesn"t provide a ton of details about the webcam, but it will apparently support HDR and include a physical privacy cover for those worried about being spied on. However, it might not be much of a resolution bump from existing models, as it won"t support 4K video.
Microsoft isn"t exactly a stranger to making webcams, with its LifeCam family getting multiple releases from 2006 through 2011. The two most recent models - the LifeCam Studio and the LifeCam HD-3000 are still available to buy straight from Microsoft, but there hasn"t been a completely new camera since 2011.
Microsoft has had webcams planned since at least 2019, according to Sams, but now is probably the best time to release one. Other companies like Razer have also taken the opportunity to launch webcams to cater to the growing work-from-home crowd. With Microsoft focusing heavily on remote collaboration with tools like Teams, a webcam seems like the perfect fit for the company"s strategy.
Aside from the Surface Laptop 4 - which will apparently be using outdated AMD processors again - and the webcam, Sams says to expect other peripherals to go along with the new devices, including audio-related accessories and some kind of dongle. We"ll just have to wait for Microsoft to announce the event and see what comes of it.