Yesterday, Microsoft assured customers, particularly businesses of the company’s commitment to its Surface line of hybrid PC’s. A post on the official Surface Blog went on to detail the ways in which the Surface Pro 3 is best suited for the work environment and summed up some examples of different sorts of business that have adopted Surface in the past, in addition to more recent adopters of the SP3 such as the Lotus F1 Team.
In the long yet reassuring blog post following rumors that Microsoft was looking to discontinue the Surface line, this particular quote stood out:
“…we are pleased to share that the following Surface Pro 3 accessories are designed with our product roadmap in mind and will be compatible with the next generation of the “Pro” line of Surface”
To put it in context, Microsoft was here talking about their commitment to hardware accessories, and how business can be reassured that their investment in Surface accessories will not go down the drain should they decide to upgrade to newer versions of the product. Three accessories were mentioned that will be forward compatible; the Surface Pro 3 Type Covers, its Docking Station accessory, as well as the power, and Ethernet adapters.
This also happens to inadvertently confirm that the upcoming Surface Pro 4 will have the same physical dimensions as today’s Surface Pro 3. Pattern seekers will note that Microsoft’s product roadmap may involve reusing most the physical design of a Surface Pro for two generations and only upgrading the insides as is the case with the Surface Pro 1 and 2. That’s not necessarily a bad thing considering how well built the Surface Pro already is externally.
It’s also important to note that the the Type Cover 2 is technically compatible with newer Surface’s, although the size is different, the same may apply here but the Docking Station compatibility means that the SP4 will likely be the same width and thickness as the SP3, the only dimension that can possibly change in this case is the height, which is unlikely unless Microsoft makes the device square.
For a company that is usually known to refrain from talking about future products until they see it fit to do so, this is unusual, but we’re not complaining. Microsoft is expected to release the Surface Pro 4 sometime in 2015, hopefully alongside the highly anticipated Mini, so stay tuned!
