Surface Pro 9: Release date, specs, and everything you need to know
Microsoft has only just launched the Surface Pro 8, and it’s quite a fantastic device. Bringing big new features like Thunderbolt and a 120Hz display, it’s easily one of the best Surface devices ever, and one of the best laptops you can buy right now, too. But it’s never too early to look into the future, and some of us are already thinking about the Surface Pro 9.
Of course, since the Surface Pro 8 was just released, a successor is likely still a ways out. That also means we don’t know a whole lot about it right now. However, there are some things we can estimate or speculate on.
When is the Surface Pro 9 coming?
The Surface Pro family is Microsoft’s most consistent line of products, starting back in 2012 and getting a refresh almost every year since. And that’s the key to knowing when the next one is coming. With the latest Surface Pro 8 just having released, it’s fair to expect the Surface Pro 9 is coming in the fall of 2022.
In addition to lining up in terms of the usual time between launches, this is also when Microsoft will likely debut the next major update for Windows 11, and the Surface Pro 9 will likely be a showcase device for it.
What’s new in the Surface Pro 9?
With the Surface Pro 8, Microsoft introduced some big new changes. It added Thunderbolt ports, a bigger display with smaller bezels, a 120Hz refresh rate, support for haptic feedback with the Surface Slim Pen 2, and more. But before that, the Surface Pro family was nearly unchanged for years, at least in terms of big new features. Typically, Microsoft only introduces major changes every few generations, so the Surface Pro 9 will likely focus on refinements and smaller improvements.
Surface Pro 8
Among them, of course, we’re likely to find Intel’s upcoming Alder Lake processors, which we’ve been hearing about for a while. These processors have a new core layout containing both performance cores and efficiency cores. That means next year’s model may not only perform better, it may also have better battery life than the current model.
Something else Microsoft could add to the Surface Pro line is support for 5G. Many laptops from competing brands already offer it, but Microsoft has stuck with just LTE for all of its cellular-enabled PCs. That hasn’t been a huge issue with 5G still not fully mature, but 2022 could be the year it happens.
One other thing that may or may not change has to do with the Surface Connect port. With the addition of Thunderbolt, Surface Connect has become less useful, especially because it doesn’t have the same bandwidth as a Thunderbolt port. Microsoft could update the connector to support higher transfer speeds, remove it altogether, or just keep it around for anyone who already has a Surface Dock.
Surface Connect and Thunderbolt ports on the Surface Pro 8
How much will it cost?
Again, we have no information on this so early on, but we do know that the Surface Pro 8 significantly raised the entry barrier for the Surface Pro line. While previous models started at $749, the Surface Pro 8 starts at $1,099, on account of having higher specs across the board. Most likely, we’ll be looking at similar pricing in the upcoming model, unless Microsoft decides to go back to including an Intel Core i3 processor in the base configuration.
That’s all we can really tell about the Surface Pro 9 at this time. Because we’re still pretty far from its launch, it’s hard to point out any specific features it will include. For the most part, and especially in terms of design, it will likely be very similar to the Surface Pro 8. We’ll just be looking at some internal upgrades. Of course, we’ll update this article as more information becomes available in the lead-up to launch.
If you don’t think it’s worth the wait, check out our review of the Surface Pro 8 to see if you should buy that instead.
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