A Surface Duo 3 Seems Unlikely. But the Idea Behind It Should Live On

Microsoft has an advanced historical past with {hardware}. Though its Surface line popularized the concept of tablets that may double as laptops, it hasn’t been capable of replicate that success with cell units. The now-defunct Windows Phone platform, Zune music participant, Kin telephones and Microsoft Band are proof.Now mounting proof is beginning to point out that Microsoft’s two-screened smartphone, the Surface Duo, may meet the identical destiny. Last 12 months, Windows Central reported that Microsoft had scrapped plans for a Surface Duo 3 and as a substitute plans to launch a extra conventional foldable cellphone with a bendable display screen, just like the units in Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line. A patent utility that surfaced this week (no pun meant) additional fueled hypothesis that Microsoft could possibly be transferring on this course, coming after questions have been raised about how lengthy the corporate will proceed to assist its present Duo units. Yes, the Surface Duo has points. Despite its unconventional and putting design, it hasn’t been preferrred for primary phone-related duties, like snapping photographs and rapidly responding to texts on the go. Occasional software program glitches have additionally hampered its enchantment. But the promise behind a cellphone with two screens is not misplaced on me, and I hope Microsoft is not utterly giving up on it. A Microsoft consultant stated the Surface Duo “remains an important part of the Surface portfolio.” The firm added that Android and safety updates can be offered for 3 years following the system’s launch, which implies 2024 must be the final 12 months the Surface Duo 2 will get updates.Read extra: Considering a Foldable Phone? How to Decide if One Is Right for YouTwo screens may be higher than one The Surface Duo 2. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETIf there’s one factor I’ve discovered about foldable telephones within the final couple of years, it is that two screens can typically be higher than one. That was one in every of my takeaways when reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Motorola Razr Plus, each of which have miniature screens that make it doable to make use of apps with out opening the cellphone. I felt the identical means when making an attempt the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 in 2021, although the cellphone’s limitations in the end overshadowed my pleasure about its two screens. When it involves multitasking, having two full-size shows may be extra helpful than having a single display screen break up in half. I not often use the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, which has one 7.6-inch inner display screen that folds down the center, to run a number of apps. Instead, I favor to make use of your entire 7.6-inch show to view one app on a bigger canvas.Read extra: Best foldable cellphone for 2024But the Surface Duo 2 is completely different. It has two full 5.8-inch screens on the within that may operate independently to run separate apps, or can run the identical app collectively. The catch is that apps must be optimized to work nicely throughout two screens, and lots of common ones weren’t after I reviewed the system a few years in the past.Still, I do suppose Microsoft was onto one thing. While the Surface Duo 2’s excessive value, occasional software program bugs, cumbersome design and subpar digicam made it onerous to suggest, it stays essentially the most fascinating tackle how software program ought to evolve together with {hardware}.  The Surface Duo 2 working a recreation. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETMicrosoft did extra than simply create a break up display screen expertise and optimize apps for various display screen sizes; it considered how apps ought to operate in another way given the Surface Duo’s uncommon design. When it labored, it felt like I used to be truly utilizing apps in numerous methods. The Amazon Kindle app, as an illustration, turned the Surface Duo 2 right into a digital ebook, with every display screen serving as an digital web page. The Xbox Game Pass app made the Surface Duo 2 really feel like a Nintendo 3DS-esque handheld gaming console, however with out the bodily buttons. Even less-exciting apps like Outlook felt completely different on the Surface Duo, with Microsoft dedicating one complete display screen to your inbox and the opposite to a full electronic mail.Samsung’s strategy — a cellphone that turns right into a pill — is far simpler to understand, even whether it is much less formidable. The elevator pitch is simpler to understand for most individuals, whereas Microsoft needed to actually show the Surface Duo 2’s objective. Pivoting to a foldable would make it more durable to face out Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5. Patrick Holland/CNETThough foldable telephones aren’t almost as common as customary telephones, nearly each smartphone maker now affords one. Samsung was the one main participant within the US market preaching the promise of foldables, however in 2023 we noticed new fashions from Google and OnePlus too. Those newcomers have not made a significant dent out there but, with Samsung nonetheless dominating the worldwide foldable cellphone business, in line with statistics from TrendForce from February 2024.That means if Microsoft had been to launch a brand new foldable cellphone, it will face far more competitors than in 2021 when the Surface Duo 2 arrived. So it must do extra to make its foldable cellphone stand out — particularly if it had been to launch a Galaxy Z Fold-style system like Samsung’s different opponents. Sticking with the dual-screened format would make Microsoft’s foldable really feel much less like a copycat, though it will nonetheless face the problem of promoting customers (apart from myself) on the advantages of two screens. Did the Surface Duo come too quickly? Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2, closed. Lisa Eadicicco/CNETSimilar to different Microsoft innovations (bear in mind the SPOT Smart Watch from the early 2000s?), perhaps the Surface Duo was simply forward of its time. Microsoft by no means actually needed to name the Surface Duo a cellphone, and anybody who’s used one most likely understands why. But given its value and performance, it wanted to excel as a smartphone to succeed — a requirement it in the end could not meet.If a brand new Surface Duo had been to return out in a few years, I ponder if issues can be completely different. Tech giants, together with Microsoft, are incorporating generative AI (the flavour of AI behind ChatGPT) into their software program, permitting for brand new use circumstances. Right now the largest means that is exhibiting up in software program is thru the introduction of photograph enhancing options like Google’s Magic Edit and assistants comparable to Microsoft’s Copilot. But some firms, like AI startups Rabbit and Brain.AI, are attempting to make working programs extra intuitive by serving up data as wanted somewhat than counting on apps to get issues carried out. If that concept ultimately takes off and spreads to extra units, like smartwatches and wi-fi earbuds, perhaps a tool just like the Surface Duo would make extra sense. What if a big language mannequin ran in your smartwatch — which communicated along with your earbuds — and made it simpler to ship texts or get instructions? You can technically do these issues as we speak in your watch, however doing so in your cellphone remains to be typically easier.If AI makes it simpler to depend on these ancillary tech merchandise, perhaps you would not want to tug out your cellphone as usually. Perhaps that might change the cellphone’s position from a gadget we rely on for primary on a regular basis duties to extra of a transportable leisure system, like a pill or laptop computer, for studying, taking part in video games and reviewing emails. That sounds lots just like the moveable pc Microsoft envisioned within the first place when it unveiled the Surface Duo, and I hope it hasn’t completely deserted that imaginative and prescient.