Microsoft will reportedly launch a fresh hardware this spring but it's unlikely that the product intro will lead to the rumored Surface Pro 5, or that of the Surface Book 2. What's certain is that the Windows 10 Creators Update will commence rolling out this coming April, a new report said.
Known Microsoft insider Mary Jo Foley reported via ZDNet that a Spring 2017 hardware launch is definitely in the cards for the Windows 10 maker. No specific schedule was mentioned in the report but Foley claimed a new product will come out as immediate follow up to the Creators or Redstone 2 Update to Windows 10.
To be sure, the product launch will not be for the Surface Phone, which in recent reports is said to be dropping either in late 2018 or 2019. And even as no upgrades were seen on the Surface Pro and Surface Book lines in 2016, Foley said none of the two will see the light of the day this springtime.
Specifically, the second-generation Surface Book is "not quite ready yet." The Surface Pro 5, on the other hand, was rumored to earlier to get unpacked during the MWC 2017 in Barcelona, Spain last February but 2-in-1 device was a no show.
But if supply chain rumors are to be believed - that Microsoft is planning to issue clamshell notebooks with Surface branding and affordable pricing, the next hardware from the tech giant could be called "Cloud Books." The device will serve as Microsoft's direct answer to Google's Chromebook, said the same ZDNet report.
Foley also noted that nothing concreate has been provided by her Microsoft sources so far, stressing that Cloud Books or any other hardware mentioned in the past "are all nothing but guesses on my part."
Yet making the case for a new Microsoft hardware are the new features that will be deployed with Windows 10 Creators Update, bannered by 3D Paint, Game Mode and Beam game streaming. There has to be a new Surface to show off the new Windows 10 capabilities.