Microsoft held an event in New York City today to announce a new Surface tablet, the Surface Pro 3. The new device is the biggest update to the Surface Pro since it was announced and includes a new design, internals and screen. What Microsoft didn"t announce, however, was a Surface Mini. Neowin"s Brad Sams was one of the first to report the existence of a smaller Surface tablet, which then didn"t arrive at today"s event.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the Surface Mini did exist, but it was mothballed because of a lack of differentiation between it and other small tablets, such as Apple"s iPad mini. A source speaking to Bloomberg claimed it "wasn"t different enough" and "wouldn"t be a hit." The decision to kill the tablet reportedly came from CEO Satya Nadella and devices head Stephen Elop.
The cancelation reportedly caused a lot of back tracking, forcing them to remove all references of a Qualcomm-powered tablet from the event and launch the Surface Pro 3 in its place. Microsoft"s decision to kill the tablet also comes in the wake of apparently teasing it, as the company promoted the event from the outset as a "small gathering," hinting at a smaller Surface tablet.
Smaller tablets already exist and are a prominent force in the tablet space, with Apple selling the iPad mini, Google having the Nexus 7 and various other manufactures producing smaller Windows tablets.
Source: Bloomberg