Microsoft is planning to launch Surface Pro 5 in the first quarter of 2017. (Source: Reuters) Microsoft is planning to launch Surface Pro 5 in the first quarter of 2017. (Source: Reuters)

Microsoft is planning to launch the new Surface Pro 5 in the first quarter of 2017, says a report in DigiTimes quoting China’s Economic Daily News. The report adds the new 2-in-1 will come with an Ultra HD display, a magnetic charging stylus, and that Pegatron Technology will manufacture the device. The report doesn’t given any other hints or specifications about the upcoming device.

For Microsoft, the Surface Pro 5 is not the only leak that has taken place. Photos of a purported Surface phone have also been shared on China’s Weibo, but need to be taken with a pinch of salt considering they resemble the old Lumia smartphones. The Surface smartphone is something that has long been rumoured, but we’ve not seen any major announcement from Microsoft on the mobile front for Windows 10. However, the Redmont-based technology giant has confirmed it will be bringing Windows 10 on ARM-architecture based processors as part of a new partnership with Qualcomm.

Microsoft confirmed that in future Windows 10 users will be able to experience their desktop apps on future tablets, phones, etc which are running on Qualcomm processors. So the Surface phone might just end up making an appearance in 2017.

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book have emerged as successful devices. The company just updated its Surface lineup in October 2016. The new Surface Book i7, which indicates the use of Intel’s Core i7 processor also features NVIDIA’s GTX 965M GPU and has a 16 hour battery life. Microsoft Surface Book comes in 256GB, 512GB or 1TB storage options priced at $2,399, $2,799, and $3,299, respectively.

The new Surface Studio desktop was also announced by the company at its big Surface event. Microsoft says its new Surface sales were the best in November 2016, and that its devices were preferred over Apple’s new MacBook Pro 2016. The Windows 10 maker also called Apple’s much-hyped new MacBook Pro a “disappointment”, especially for the professional consumers.

We’ll have to wait and see how soon the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 is introduced to the world, and whether there will be different processor versions of this, including perhaps a Qualcomm one.

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