Microsoft's much-rumored Surface Mini tablet is reportedly still in the cards, but the company still has some work to do before releasing it.
The Surface Mini was expected to debut at Microsoft's event on May 20, but that obviously did not happen. The company introduced its latest Surface Pro 3 large-screen tablet, but made no mention whatsoever about a Surface Mini.
According to reports, however, this doesn't mean that Microsoft scrapped plans for a smaller Surface tablet altogether. Neowin claims that the company's last-minute decision to drop the Surface Mini for now stemmed from concerns that the smaller slate didn't have a good enough value proposition, but that's expected to change.
Microsoft may reportedly be saving its Surface Mini for when the fully touch-enabled version of Office (codenamed Gemini) is ready to debut later this year. The company will then unleash its smaller surface with the touch-enabled Microsoft Office on board.
Microsoft is said to have taken roughly 15,000 - 20,000 Surface Mini units from the production line. While Neowin's explanation for why the Surface Mini went MIA at the company's May 20 event sounds plausible enough, it also means that all of those units will take a back seat for now, until they can debut with the new Office pre-installed out of the box.
On the other hand, Microsoft did launch a high-end Surface tablet at the event, and the purported Surface Mini's delay allows the company to focus on its Surface Pro 3. Coming less than a year after the Surface Pro 2, the new iteration is bigger, thinner, lighter, and with more horsepower, with notable improvements all around. Microsoft aims to replace your laptop with the Surface Pro 3, which boasts a 12-inch screen with a resolution of 2,160 x 1,440 and comes in five configurations.
The Surface Pro 3 is available in models up to an Intel Core i7 processor, up to 512GB of internal storage capacity and up to 8GB of RAM. The tablet also comes with a new Touch Cover, boasts 5-megapixel cameras both on its front and rear, and will last for up to nine hours on a single charge.
The Surface Mini, meanwhile, seems to be in limbo for now. The company has not offered any details in this regards, but if the latest report proves to be accurate the smaller Surface will make it to the market later on.
