Microsoft Reportedly Holding October Event For New Surface Tablets, Flagship Lumia Smartphones
All eyes are going to be on Apple next month, as the company is scheduled to announce its next generation iPhone 6S/6S Plus smartphones along with new iPads (and possibly a next generation Apple TV). But attention will shift in October, as Microsoft is set to launch its Surface Pro 4 along with the long-awaited refresh to its Lumia smartphone range at the flagship level.
A Surface Pro 4 is almost certainly a lock for the October event, given that the current Surface Pro 3 is over a year old, which is pretty long lifecycle in the tech industry. We don’t have much by way of leaked features or specs with regards to this next generation tablet, but it wouldn’t be out of line to expect Skylake-based processors along with some tweaks to the the physical dimensions of the tablet (everyone seems to be going thinner and lighter these days). It’d also be nice to seem some battery life improvements and a bump in the base amount of storage offered (current Surface Pro 3 tablets start with just a 64GB SSD).
As for smartphones, we’ve already talked at great length about the two new Lumia smartphones that will showcase the upcoming Windows 10 Mobile operating system. What we previously knew as the Lumia 940 and Lumia 940 XL are now reportedly going to be labeled Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. Regardless of the nomenclature, the smaller of the two will reportedly rock a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 5.2-inch 1080p display, and a 20MP PureView camera. The larger model will up the ante with a 5.7-inch QHD display, Snapdragon 810 processor with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and integrated Qi wireless charging.
If that isn’t enough fresh hardware for you, Neowin is also reporting that Microsoft will launch its Band 2 wearable. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner revealed in mid-July that the company was well underway developing the second generation Band, and not long after Target offered the band for a whopping 25 percent off, dropping the price to a cool $150. We don’t know much about Band 2, but there is hope that Microsoft will ditch the utilitarian look of the current model in favor of something more streamlined and colorful like the abandoned Moonraker smartphone project that got underway before Microsoft acquired Nokia’s Devices and Services unit.
There are sure to be some other surprises thrown in for good measure at Microsoft’s October event, but for now, the above offerings are pretty much a given.