At the Microsoft Surface new product launch event last fall, in addition to the conventionally upgraded Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3, the newly developed operating system Windows 10X, a dual-screen computer Surface Neo, and a dual-screen smartphone Surface were specifically designed for dual screens. Duo has undoubtedly become the most eye-catching new product.
After Microsoft’s chief product officer Panos Panay confirmed earlier this year that the development progress of Windows 10X was delayed, and the Surface Neo was postponed, the outside world also felt that the Surface Duo, which had previously announced that it would be "Holiday in 2020", could be launched as scheduled. Some concerns.
However, on August 12, Microsoft unexpectedly announced on its official blog that the Surface Duo has been open for pre-order, with a starting price of $1,399 (approximately 9,700 yuan) and will be shipped on September 10. However, the official has also stated that the Surface Duo will currently only be sold in the US market. If there are plans to land in other regions in the future, further notice will be given.
In terms of product form, in fact, the Microsoft Surface Duo is quite similar to the AXON M previously launched by ZTE. It is also composed of two separate 5.6-inch AMOLED screens. When connected together, it can achieve a large 8.1-inch screen. And supports 100% sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut. For this product, Microsoft said that users will be able to use different apps on two different screens of the Surface Duo. For example, they can use Teams for meetings and OneNote for taking notes.
In terms of hardware configuration, the Surface Duo is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 main control, supplemented by a storage combination of 6GB RAM +128GB/256GB ROM, and a battery capacity of 3577mAh. It is only equipped with an 11-megapixel single camera that can support the highest power. It is 18W fast charge, Wi-Fi5, and Bluetooth 5.0 functions, but does not support 5G network and NFC functions.
Although the official launch of Surface Duo is a quarter ahead of Microsoft's previous expectations, it must be admitted that the hardware configuration of this product has fallen behind the market for nearly a year. In the current mainstream Android flagship models have used Qualcomm Snapdragon 865/865+, standard UFS 3.0+LDDR5, and all are equipped with imaging systems comparable to cameras, it is indeed not enough to see.
Of course, Microsoft does not seem to have the intention to subvert the smartphone market. Its product positioning for Surface Duo can help users rethink how to use "devices in pockets" rather than redefining smartphones.
For Microsoft, the mobile phone market after its return has obviously changed the world. In October 2017, Joe Belfiore, the vice president in charge of operating systems, broke Microsoft’s long silence on Windows 10 Mobile and admitted that this system, which was once high hopes, has entered because of lack of hardware support and software richness. The "maintenance period."
Looking back on the past, it is not difficult to find that 2017 is the node where the smartphone market has turned from prosperity to decline, and it is at the "tail" of the market's rapid growth period. Today, according to a survey report released by IDC, global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2020 were 278.4 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 16%.
And with the lengthening of the consumer replacement cycle and the lack of 5G to stimulate consumption, the full recovery of this market seems to be for the time being in the foreseeable future. Therefore, choosing to re-enter the market in the down cycle, Microsoft has undoubtedly made a bold decision, but if you look at it from another angle, the crisis also represents the possibility of industry reshuffle. Therefore, there are also opinions that the big business of Microsoft has not There is no possibility of winning in chaos.
This idea of seeking opportunities in a crisis may also be the reason why Microsoft chose the dual-screen folding screen pre-design. If Microsoft heads into the conventional smartphone market where competition is extremely cruel, it will undoubtedly be trapped in the atmosphere of designing, parameterizing, and functioning with other Android OEMs. This is for Microsoft, which has not enough accumulation in the supply chain today It is obviously unwise to say.
Although the shipment of folding screen models in 2019 is said to be less than one million units, both domestic CITIC Securities and overseas Strategy Analytics believe that such products will be the fastest-growing segment in the high-end field in the future. market.
Therefore, there is a view that the Surface Duo, which is "to be for life" within the Android system, needs to face a Mobius ring that is difficult to break if it wants to stand out.
If Microsoft wants to win surprisingly through the dual-screen experience, it must obtain full support from Google, such as various targeted optimizations; if it wants to obtain Google’s support or attract enough third-party developers to participate, it needs to have a huge The user scale is the most guaranteed; and if you want to attract users, you need to make the Surface Duo have a unique experience different from other models; but if you want to have an experience different from other models, you need Google’s support.
Of course, Surface Duo is not without its strengths. Compared with Android models in the same niche, such as Huawei Mate X, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, and Moto Razr 2019, which do not support stylus pens, the important selling point of Surface Duo is to support Surface Pen.
And because of its advantages in input efficiency, the stylus is an extremely important part of mobile productivity tools. From painting, design, to text content, the pen is far better than touch, so for Surface Duo that can use the stylus , Naturally there is the possibility of meeting the needs of mobile office users.