Microsoft announced the new Surface Pro back in May at an event in Shanghai, promising that a cellular model would be coming later this year. At the company"s Ignite 2017 conference, Neowin exclusively learned that the device would launch on December 1, a date that Microsoft later confirmed.
As it turns out though, it"s only businesses that can purchase the Surface Pro with Advanced LTE today, as it won"t launch for consumers until early next year.
The new Surface Pro with LTE comes in two flavors, both of which have a Core i5 processor. One has 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, and the other is 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. The reason that you can only get it with a Core i5 is because the cellular modem is placed where the fan is on the Core i7 variant.
That cellular modem is a Qualcomm Snapdragon X16, the same that you"ll find paired with the Snapdragon 835 chipset, which powers most Android flagship phones and the upcoming Windows on ARM PCs. While the modem is capable of speeds of up to 1Gbps, Microsoft has it capped at 450Mbps, although to be fair, very few cellular networks support more than that.
It includes both a nano-SIM slot and an e-SIM, so you have the option of setting it up through software or just popping in your existing data SIM. It shouldn"t affect your battery life by much either, as the company says that if you use the device exclusively with LTE, you"ll still get 90% of the battery life.
Microsoft isn"t selling the Surface Pro with Advanced LTE on its own site yet, but you can find it from some of its partners. Insight is selling the 4GB RAM model here, and the 8GB RAM model here.