Microsoft has cut $100 off the price of its Surface 2 Windows RT tablets. This puts the cheapest 32GB unit at $349, the 64GB unit at $449, and the 64GB model with LTE version at $579. With the price cut, the 32GB 1920×1080 Microsoft tablet is priced below all but the 16GB non-Retina iPad mini.

The discounts are available through Microsoft's physical and online stores, as well as through some other retailers such as Amazon. The price cuts are described as being for a limited time only, expiring on September 27 or "while stocks last." Microsoft is also limiting buyers, rather optimistically, to a maximum of five discounted units per purchase.

While Surface 2's x86 sibling, the Surface Pro 2, was replaced unexpectedly by the Surface Pro 3, the Surface 2 has been largely unaltered since its introduction last October. The only change Microsoft has made was to add a third model with integrated LTE.

$100 off is a hefty discount, the kind of thing that points at stock clearance. But a clearance to what end? Microsoft could be ending its ARM Windows hardware ambitions and discontinuing Surface 2 entirely, but it may just be making space for a successor model.

This uncertainty underscores broader uncertainty about Windows RT in general. Microsoft can't abandon ARM processors completely, because they're still critically important to smartphones. However, promoting ARM Windows on a large tablet has always been a little tricky due to the relative lack of applications and the strong competition from cheap x86 tablets with Atom processors.

As such, it wouldn't be altogether surprising to see Surface 2 quietly phased out, at least until Microsoft can give the device a big shake-up to create a clear purpose. The Surface Mini was believed to use an ARM processor until it was expensively killed off days before it was due to be unveiled. The alleged reason for its cancellation was supposedly that it had no clear advantage over anything else that was for sale.

We wouldn't rule out ever seeing a successor to the Surface 2, but it could take the release of Windows 9 and (finally) touch Office for Windows for that to happen.