A week after unveiling its third-generation Surface Pro , Microsoft has slashed the price of its Surface Pro 2 tablets in the UK by up to £150.

As Microsoft gears up to ship its new 12-inch Surface Pro 3 tablets by the end of August, the company has announced discounts on its smaller predecessor, bringing prices across the older range well below the new generation of i3, i5, and i7 devices.

Whether or not Microsoft is looking to entirely clear the shelves of its older devices is unclear; however, the discounts do make sense given that until today's price cuts, the newer entry level Surface Pro 3 was cheaper than the Surface Pro 2, released late last year .

With a £150 discount on the 64GB Surface Pro 2, its price falls from £711 to £569. In comparison, the 64GB i3 Surface Pro 3 comes with a £639 price tag.

Previously £799, the Surface Pro 2 128GB now costs £659 after its £140 discount, while the 128GB i5 Pro 3 is priced at £849.

The Surface Pro 2 256GB cost £1039 before the discount, but it's now £140 cheaper at £899. At the same storage capacity Microsoft has two options for the Surface Pro 3, with the i5 version costing £1,109 and the zippier i7 costing £1,339.

Meanwhile, the £1,439 price tag for the Surface Pro 2 512GB model has been cut by £150 to £1,289, whereas the Surface Pro 3 with an i7 processor costs £1,649.

Microsoft has continued pitching the Surface as a device that bridges the gap between tablets and laptops, but with the 12-inch display, it appears the company is hoping its Pro tablets will win over customers in the market for a MacBook Air-like device.

While the entry level price for third-generation Surface hardware has come down compared with its second-generation predecessors, if the MacBook Air is the target, the Surface Pro 3 comes out as the premium-priced option — and, as some have noted, not far from the cost of a 15-inch MacBook Pro .

Read more on the Surface Pro 3