A couple of conflicting reports have come up today regarding the Surface tablet. First it was said that Microsoft is going to kill its tablet lineup completely but the company responded that it is committed to Surface Pro and that there will be a next-generation model. Now a new report has been published online which claims that while the Pro tablets will continue to exist, Microsoft may do away with ARM-based Surface tablets once and for all.
This latest report is from Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet and her sources have been accurate multiple times in the past. Sources claim, contradicting an earlier report, that Microsoft does not have any plans of releasing a new Surface 3 or a Surface mini, the latter was reportedly shelved earlier this year even before it was announced.
Based on one source only, Foley reports that Microsoft’s Surface strategy for the future could entail ceasing production of any ARM-based Surface tablets and focus on ones powered by Intel.
Microsoft has not yet confirmed or denied this but the assumption is that if the company wanted to release an ARM-based tablet it would have done so by now to target the holiday shopping season. Perhaps this goes to show that the company is really shifting focus from ARM to Intel.
It is highly likely that we’ll get to hear more about Microsoft’s Surface plans in the coming days because this cycle of the rumor mill seems far from over.