Microsoft has confirmed that it is going to hold a special event in September and while it hasn't confirmed what attendees should expect to be shown, there are a few things that will probably pop up.
Microsoft says that the event will take place on Thursday, 21 September, and will be held in New York City. It'll likely come a week or so after Apple's own event, one that will kick off a few months of announcements that will include the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, Microsoft's new hardware, and a whole lot more.
New York, New York
As mentioned, Microsoft predictably stopped short of announcing what people should expect to see announced at the event. But rumors continue to fly as to what will be shown off and a mix of hardware and software seems to be in the cards.
In terms of the hardware, Windows Central cites unnamed sources when saying that they "expect a new Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Laptop Go 3, and Surface Go 4" to be the biggest announcements of the event. All of that makes plenty of sense and we can expect the new hardware to be well worth taking a look at come the end of September.
As far as software goes, it doesn't take too much of a stretch to assume that we can expect AI to be part of the equation come 21 September. The tech world is obsessed with AI and large language models (LLM) right now and Microsoft itself is already making a big deal about so-called AI copilots and what they can do for users of its software and devices. With that in mind, we can surely expect AI to play a big part in whatever Microsoft has been cooking up over in Redmond.
21 September isn't all that far away so we won't have to wait too long to find out what Microsoft has in store.
A new Surface?
There haven't been any significant leaks surrounding the event or any future Surface device. But there are some rumours circulating. By far the most interesting is that there's the possibility that we'll see a Surface Pro 10 with a new smaller screen size. An 11-inch device would be super-portable and could provide a new entry-point to the family. We're not expecting a change in design however, so it might just be expanded hardware options.
What many will be watching, of course, is what happens on the Windows on ARM side of things. While Apple is enjoying its silicon ride, some will be questioning whether Intel hardware is the right hardware for the next Surface. For the Surface Pro 9 there were both versions, but there's not complete parity in the Windows experience on these devices - perhaps that's all about to change. Perhaps the Surface Pro 10 will bring us an 11-inch ARM device offering long battery life, always connected 5G and all the versatility of Windows. We'll soon find out.