Microsoft unveiled a release date and more details about the Surface Duo, its new dual-screen Android phone that the company says represents a “major new form factor” and “the next wave of mobile productivity.”
The Surface Duo will go on sale Sept. 10 starting at $1,399 in the U.S., with pre-orders beginning today at Microsoft’s online store, AT&T, and Best Buy. It will work on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks.
Originally announced this past October, the foldable device features two 5.6-inch OLED PixelSense Fusion Displays connected by a 360-degree hinge that can be used individually or together. It is powered by a Snapdragon 855 chip and has 6GB of RAM along with 128GB and 256GB storage configurations. The Duo has an 11-megapixel camera and works with the Surface Pen accessory. Its battery has up to 15.5 hours of local video playback, 10 days of standby time, and 27 hours of talk time. There is LTE availability but no 5G.
Microsoft does not want to reinvent the phone but “inspire people to rethink how they want to use the device in their pocket,” Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay wrote in a blog post.
“The ability to use two screens together on a mobile product has a real impact on how you create, how you share, and how you feel when using the product,” Panay wrote.
Microsoft optimized apps such as Office, Outlook, Teams, and others for two screens, as described in this blog post from Microsoft Office design chief Jon Friedman.
The Duo features “App Combos,” which opens two apps at once — Teams and Outlook, AllTrails and Google Maps, etc. It also works with the Your Phone app, which lets Android smartphone users make calls, send text messages, check notifications, and more from their Windows PC. Panay noted that users will be able to copy and paste content from the Duo and a PC, and “even mirror the dual-screen experience of your Duo right on your Windows PC.”
Here’s more from Panay on use cases with the new device:
“Join a Microsoft Teams meeting and see participants on one screen while you present your PowerPoint slides on another. Open the Amazon Kindle app and read a book like a book. Position Surface Duo’s screen like a tent and watch a video hands-free. Use Surface Duo in Compose mode to quickly respond to an email, or tilt it into portrait for a more immersive way to scroll through web pages or photos.”
Panay added that “every detail from the layout of the motherboard and multi-cell battery to the placement of inertial sensors, mics and antennas was purposefully designed to unlock an entirely new interaction model across two screens.” He said Microsoft is working closely with Google “to make additions to the Android operating system” for the two-screen form factor. The Duo is the first Microsoft device running Android.
. @Surface Duo represents our vision for the next wave of mobile productivity. It brings together the power of Microsoft and the full ecosystem of Android apps into one device, with two screens that fits in your pocket. Pumped for you to check it out. https://t.co/A6LQY6FArl
— Panos Panay (@panos_panay) August 12, 2020
The high price tag for the Surface Duo may be an issue. “I believe these prices will make it a non-starter for anyone other than Microsoft Surface superfans,” ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley wrote.
When it was first unveiled last year, the Duo sparked comparisons to the Microsoft Courier, the dual-screen device that Microsoft developed in secret a decade ago before shelving without releasing as a product.
Other hardware makers including Samsung and Dell also sell their own foldable devices that could represent the next evolution in personal electronics.
Panay and other Microsoft execs have been offering glimpses of the Surface Duo device on social media this summer. Google’s Android chief got in on the fun earlier this week.
Made some yakitori and yakiniku this weekend! ????????? pic.twitter.com/moSdmFQzSf
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) August 10, 2020
Microsoft originally planned to debut its larger dual-screen device, the Surface Neo, this year but delayed the release. The Neo will use a special version of Windows 10 for dual-screen devices called Windows 10X.
Microsoft said in May that it would pause development of Windows 10X on dual-screen devices and instead focus first on developing Windows 10X first for single-screen devices.
Revenue in Microsoft’s Surface hardware business jumped 28% to more than $1.7 billion in the quarter ended June 30, its biggest result ever outside the holidays. The increase was due to higher demand for Surface laptops, tablets and other devices due to stay-at-home orders in the pandemic, the company said.
IDC reported that smartphone shipments are expected to decline 11.9% this year as the pandemic affects consumer spending.
“What started as a supply-side crisis has evolved into a global demand-side problem,” Sangeetika Srivastava, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, said in a statement. “Nationwide lockdowns and rising unemployment have reduced consumer confidence and reprioritized spending towards essential goods, directly impacting the uptake of smartphones in the short term.”
However, traditional PC and tablet shipments both grew more than 11% year-over-year in Q2, IDC reported.
