Microsoft Scraps Plans For Dual-Screen Surface Duo 3, Pivots To New Foldable Screen Design

According to Windows Central's Zac Bowden, Microsoft's next foldable Surface phone will feature "a more traditional foldable design, with a 180-degree hinge, internal foldable screen and external cover display." Bowden writes: I'm told this new foldable device came about after the company had already finalized a dual-screen design for Surface Duo 3. This original dual-screen design was supposed to ship at the end of 2023 as the next Surface Duo, featuring narrower and taller edge-to-edge displays, wireless charging, and other improvements. That dual-screen design has now been scrapped, and the Surface team is now focused on delivering this new "true" foldable design. Microsoft began exploring single-screen foldable designs as a potential successor to the Surface Duo 2 in late 2021 after it launched and was met with mixed reviews.

It's still too early to know the exact specs that this new foldable device is going to feature hardware wise, or whether or not Microsoft plans to simulate a dual-screen experience via a software feature or mode. My sources say there's no concrete shipping window for the device in place yet either, meaning it's unlikely to be ready in time for this fall. [...] Of course, with the change in form factor may also come a change in name. It's still too early to tell, but given this device isn't a traditional Duo in form factor, perhaps the company will take this opportunity to rebrand the line, similar to what it did with the Surface Book and Surface Laptop Studio. Regardless, sources tell me this device is still considered a third-generation Duo internally. Bowden goes on to say that Microsoft remains "all-in" on delivering its own Android hardware and software. There's a larger software effort ongoing internally that aims to "deliver an ecosystem experience between Microsoft's Android hardware and Windows PCs similar to that between an iPhone and Mac."

The company has also been "exploring different form factors to ship in addition to a foldable device."

Bring back Windows Phone

[locater16]

I want Metro UI and Windows Phone back you cowards!

Shit was still the best phone I ever had. Bet Qualcomm's x86 translation could make Windows work native. I'd buy it, just give me the chance.

Re:

[a7b7c7]

Could not agree more. My Lumia icon lasted nine years and the UI stayed buttery smooth right up until the screen finally died. Best hardware, best OS, but unfortunately developers and app support never really caught on. Some android mods come pretty close though.

Re: Bring back Windows Phone

[dbialac]

I still use Launcher 10 on my Android, with a version that predates subscriptions. Also, shame on the cellphone sales personnel who trashed WP.

Re:

[mikaere]

Agreed, my Lumia was great and I loved the UI. Would swap my Android for a modern Windows Phone that could run current apps (e.g. my banking app etc)

Tradition

[Joce640k]

Microsoft's next foldable Surface phone will feature "a more traditional foldable design,

So... phones with foldable screens are now "traditional".

Got it.

Re:

[poptopdrop]

Sure they are - why, everyone(*) has one.

(*) with $1000 to waste

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

Only $1000? They've come down quite a bit, then.

Re:

[youngone]

The cheapest one I can buy is $2800 local money which is about $US1800.
No wonder I've never seen one in the wild. Wow.

Re:

[dbialac]

I saved a fortune with the original Z Flip. I was in the hospital for 5 weeks and the nursing staff kept pulling the movable table out from under it leading it to fall over and over. At the end of 5 weeks, there was a crack on the outside but the screen itself didn't have a single crack and was fully operational. I don't know how many phones or screens I would have gone through with a conventional phone, but that would have cost far more than what I paid for the Z Flip.

Re:

[poptopdrop]

"I don't know how many phones or screens I would have gone through with a conventional phone,"

Which is of course why manufacturers don't make phones with unbreakable screens.

Re:

[Darinbob]

They're not supposed to fold, except if you put it in your back pocket by mistake and sit down... "Your'e bending it wrong!"

Re:

[mobby_6kl]

So... phones with foldable screens are now "traditional".

Got it.

A more "traditional foldable design"

Re:

[Joce640k]

I could go with "conventional", but not "traditional".... traditional implies your grandpop used to have one.

M$ PR in /. lately is so intense...

[fbobraga]

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It's the Software

[ihxo]

The hardware only make sense if someone make software that utilizes the hardware, and I mean a lot of software that takes advantage of that 2 screen design. otherwise it's just an android phone with 2 screens.

Re:

[dbialac]

Or it's the wrong form factor. The Z Flip gets it right. It flips like an old flip phone but opens up to be a touch screen phone. It's not the software that makes this work, it's the hardware.

Fold: No Bend: Maybe

[divide overflow]

I won't trust a folding screen. At best it will have a pretty limited lifespan and can be expected to have inconvenient and unwanted failures.
I can see bendable screens with a limited curvature radius as workable, but not anything with what I would call a fold.
The stresses are just too great to allow a reliable device given our current technology.

Re:

[dbialac]

With no case mine survived quite an ordeal of being dropped over and over by nurses over 5 weeks in the hospital. Your phone wouldn't have lasted 2 days.

Re:

[divide overflow]

Dropping your phone doesn't flex a folding screen, so that's not relevant.
As for what my phone could survive, you don't know anything about my phone, so saying it wouldn't last two days is nonsense.

Re:

[thegarbz]

Dropping your phone doesn't flex a folding screen, so that's not relevant.

Of course it is. The entire basis of your post is survivability and durability. Limiting the discussion to a single type of failure is dishonest. The reality is you use your device in a real world setting and one needs to consider all aspects of how it could fail, and a quick glance around your office will show you co-workers who have had premature failure on flat screens (cracked screens) thanks to normal real world abuse. You're still partially right but your complaint is no different from the complaints

Re: Fold: No Bend: Maybe

[Malc]

Do you think your phone was dropped as many times in five weeks as my phoneâ(TM)s been dropped in 5.5 years? Or with as much force or on to as phone an unfriendly surface as popping out of a pocket while cycling down the road?

Re:

[dbialac]

I'm not sure how often you drop your phone, but mine was dropped at least once every day.