Its official — Microsoft really made a Surface Mini, but it just wasn't shipped out. Panos Panay, chief of Microsoft's Surface team, told Wired of its existence.

If it were distributed to the market, the Surface Mini could have competed with Apple's iPad Mini. But instead, Microsoft rolled out the Surface Book, a powerful laptop designed to dominate the market, which was immediately out of stock after four days when it was up for preorder.

Despite the Surface Book's seeming early success, Panay wasn't happy with how things went, as he has something else in mind when it comes to redefining the market.

"How could we possibly feel proud of making the best laptop? That wasn't reinventing anything," he told Wired.

Going back to the rumors surrounding the Surface Mini, a leak made rounds on the Internet in July 2014, saying that the Surface Mini was back in production and was slated for release in the summer. However, the rumor was quickly debunked.

In April 2014, the China-based electronic goods retailer Vostrostone put up a listing on Amazon for Surface Mini accessories, which caused people to speculate that there's a good chance for a consumer-ready Surface Mini soon enough.

However, moving forward to May 2014 when the Surface Pro 3 made its debut at a Microsoft event, the Redmond tech firm didn't mention anything about the Surface Mini.

But the Surface Pro 3's release further confirmed the Surface Mini's existence, as the user manuals had several references to the smaller gadget, which Microsoft probably missed.

No matter how much Panay (and us as well) loves the Surface Mini, it seems that the gadget won't ever see the light of day. However, it did leave a memorable footprint in the world of electronics, even though consumers never got the chance to get their hands on it.

"It was like a Moleskine. It was awesome," Panay said about the Surface Mini.

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