Microsoft first launched the Surface Pro series product line in 2013, equipped with Intel x86 processor. After years of hard work, it has gained a certain market recognition. In 2019, Microsoft launched the Surface Pro X series product line, using Qualcomm customized SQ1 processor based on Arm architecture.
According to Windows Central, Microsoft plans to adjust the entire Surface Pro series product line and provide both x86 and Arm versions on the Surface Pro 9 released in October this year. This means that the current Surface Pro X series product line will no longer exist. .
The reason why Microsoft adopts the strategy of merging product lines is mainly to normalize Windows on Arm products and no longer have separate product lines. The Arm version of Surface Pro 9 will use the SQ3 processor based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen3 SoC, integrating AI accelerator. At MWC22, Lenovo released its first ThinkPad notebook equipped with an Arm processor, model number ThinkPad X13s, which is also the only product so far equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen3.
It is understood that the x86 version of Surface Pro 9 is only available on the Intel platform and is equipped with the 12th generation Core mobile processor. There are currently no plans for the AMD platform, and it is possible that the latter will be provided in the Surface Laptop series product line. It is rumored that Surface Pro 9 will add new features including 5G network connectivity, and will be compatible with existing Surface Pro 8 and Surface Pro X accessories.
In addition, Surface Pro 9 will be optimized around the Windows 11 operating system. Since Microsoft has provided Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), devices equipped with Arm architecture processors should have a better experience than before.
