The American giant definitely fails to convince on the smartphone front. In any case, its two-screen device failed to establish itself, and four years after its announcement, it will no longer receive official updates.
Many people won’t miss the Surface Duo. But Microsoft’s failure is not only due to bad timing, even at a time when the industry is redoubling its efforts to develop, release and sell folding smartphones.
A beautiful project full of ambition
It is difficult to innovate without taking risks. Barely a month after the notable announcement of the first version of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, Microsoft presented us with great fanfare the Surface Duo. On October 2, 2019, the American giant seemed quite sure of itself, capitalizing not only on the skills of the engineers behind the Surface range, but also on the experience gleaned over several years with the defunct Windows Phone.
The device had something to surprise and impress. Consisting of two OLED screens, it was equipped with a Snapdragon 855 processor, 6 GB of RAM, 128 to 256 GB of storage and a 3,577 mAh battery. All in a very well built 5 millimeter thick chassis, at least when the device was unfolded. The Surface Duo’s screens did not suffer from the flaws often present with foldable screens, and the smartphone promised to make the most of its format. It also offered interesting interoperability with Windows PCs, much like what Apple has perfected with its entire ecosystem. Despite all this, this is a failure for Microsoft. For what ?
The end of a range more original than anything else
The Surface Duo suffered from a series of bad ideas and mistreatments. The market had already evolved well at the time of its release, a year after its announcement. The Snapdragon 855 was starting to get old, and the lack of NFC and 5G support was worrying. All this while the device was sold from 1,400 dollars, a fortune for the time. Additionally, while its thickness was impressive, it barely accommodated a USB-C port, which led to problems with the plastic surrounding it peeling off.
At a time when taking photos with a smartphone is part of everyday life, the single 11-megapixel front sensor pales in comparison to the competition. Even more, the version of Android on the Surface Duo was riddled with bugs, and didn’t benefit from as many fixes and improvements as it should have. Ultimately, the device did not keep its promises, and Microsoft did not really seem to want to believe it. And this, despite the release of the Surface Duo 2 in 2021, which corrected certain defects of the first model, but which is destined to suffer the same fate as its predecessor on October 21, 2024, three years after its release.
It is very likely that the Duo range will not see a new device, Microsoft having transferred most of the teams working on it to other projects. However, the Surface Duo could enjoy a good retirement with enthusiasts. Officially stuck on Android 12L, the first version can already benefit from Android 13 thanks to the efforts of the community. Another project also worked to make the device compatible with Windows 11, without losing any of its functionality.
Source : Neowin
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