Rumors were running wild of a Surface Mini, expected to be unveiled today during Microsoft’s “small” Surface press event in New York City. But it never happened. We got a 12-inch Surface Pro 3 instead. So what happened? Was there ever going to be a Surface Mini or was it all just a big fat rumor?
Apparently, the Surface Mini was in development. But, the device offered nothing different enough to warrant a release. In fact, Microsoft felt that it wouldn’t even be a hit when compared to alternatives like the Lenovo Miix 2 or Dell Venue 8 Pro. Microsoft’s Nadella and Elop apparently decided to cancel the Mini – for now.
“Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and Executive Vice President Stephen Elop decided that the product in development wasn’t different enough from rivals and probably wouldn’t be a hit, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans weren’t public. Engineers had been working on the device and had planned to unveil it as early as today at an event in New York, two of the people said,” a Bloomberg report stated.
Microsoft made no mention of the smaller Surface Mini during the event today, but Bloomberg states that Panos Panay, the man in charge of the Surface, hinted that Microsoft is still working on a smaller version of the device. Unfortunately, no details about when the Surface Mini would be unveiled were given. Perhaps Microsoft is waiting for the touch-optimized Office Gemini to be wrapped up before unveiling a smaller tablet device?
Further reading: Microsoft, Surface Mini
