Refreshed Surface Pro, Not Surface Pro 5, Coming on May 23 at Shanghai Event

Surface Pen in 4 colors - Surface Pro 5 not coming, Surface Pro launching May 23

Has Microsoft decided to hold off the Surface Pro 5 launch until the holiday quarter this year? After months of speculation, the company is finally releasing the next Surface Pro, but rather than being a major upgrade to Surface Pro 4, the new device is a refresh of the previous Surface 2-in-1 hybrid tablet.

On Tuesday, May 23, Microsoft is hosting an event in Shanghai, China, where the new Surface Pro (no numbering for this model) Window 10 hybrid tablet will be unveiled. But we don’t have to wait until tomorrow to see what it looks like. Veteran Microsoft leaker Evan Blass has posted several photos of the device on Venture Beat:

As you can see from the external views, it’s not a leap forward from Surface Pro 4 – and definitely not what we were hoping to see from the ‘still-upcoming’ Surface Pro 5 this year. But they’ve used similar keyboard and pen color options as the recently launched Surface Laptop, thought not identical, and we hope to see some internal upgrades like Kaby Lake, perhaps, more RAM and a few other features.

Pricing and availability details should be coming soon, as noted by VB’s Blass.

What we were really hoping to see was a Surface Pro 5 launch, to be honest. It’s been so many months since rumor of Surface Pro 5 began that it’s almost starting to feel like the Surface Phone all over again.

As we saw during Microsoft’s most recent earnings report, Surface revenues have dipped by 26 percent year over year for the quarter. They do need more than one new device this year. The Surface Laptop for students was the first, and now the Surface Pro refresh coming out tomorrow.

That’s still not going to be enough, though. What the Surface ecosystem really needs is a killer hybrid tablet like a Surface Pro 5, and Surface Phone aka Cellular PC. Nothing less than that is going to help Surface sales improve this year, and Microsoft is well aware of that. Surface Studio won’t be able to show large volumes because of its pricing, but it should help on the revenue front, along with other pro products like Surface Hub.

Will people line up to buy the new Surface Pro 2-in-1 hybrid tablet, or will they hold off in anticipation of the major upgrade that Surface Pro 5 represents? What are your thoughts?

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Leaked Photos Courtesy: VB