Although more and more people have "looked lightly" on iPhone in recent years, the new iPhone launch conference is still the protagonist in September every year. This arrogant confidence even once made other brands choose to actively avoid the time of iPhone launch conferences to avoid the hot spots being locked by Apple . But the problem is that actively avoiding the time of Apple's press conference may cause brands to completely miss the opportunity to be paid attention to by netizens, such as the new product launch conference held by Google on October 6, and the new product launch conference held by on October 12.
On October 12, 2022, Microsoft officially released the new hardware for the 22 fall, , which includes surface Pro 9, Surface Laptop 5, Surface Studio 2+, Audio Dock smart speaker and a series of software and hardware accessories products. Surprisingly, although the previous generation of Surface Laptop Studio received rave reviews online, the sales may be too poor, and the sequel to Surface Laptop Studio did not appear at this press conference.
Image source: Microsoft
That is to say, after years of market experience, Microsoft's Surface hardware business finally returned to the classic combination of tablet + notebook + all-in-one. But the problem is that Microsoft's combination of tablet + laptop + all-in-one machine is actually not very sales.
Why is Microsoft hardware so popular?
According to the global tablet shipment statistics released by Strategy Analytics in the 2022 Q1 release, Microsoft is actually the only brand with a growth in share among the top five brands in shipments. Compared with the same period last year, Microsoft's shipments this year have increased slightly by 1%; , but compared with , which ranks fourth, Lenovo , Microsoft's 3% accounted for even less than 50% of Lenovo's, which is still the market performance after Lenovo's shipments plummeted by 20%.
Although Surface has never won sales, in the Internet discussion area, Surface has changed into another scene, becoming an existence for all iPads to play Android tablets: when Apple just launched iPadOS and focused on promoting iPadOS productivity, We can see comments about "no CAD", "no professional software" and "not as good as Surface" in almost every video comment section about iPadOS. To be fair, iPad really can't do this. But from the perspective of sales, these factors will not affect iPad sales. On the contrary, Surface's sales have been in the "tail of the crane" position for a long time.
Why does Surface often open high and end low and end ? Is it so popular? In fact, we can find the answer to this question from the hardware design and product positioning of Surface itself.
Image source: Microsoft
Take Surface Studio, the "main product" in this press conference as an example. This desktop all-in-one, released in the fall of 2022, is equipped with the 11th generation mobile Core i7-11370H processor (H35), equipped with a mobile RTX3060 6GB GPU, 32GB DDR4 memory and 1TB SSD . It is obvious that the main selling point of Surface Studio is not its performance, otherwise it would not have released an all-in-one H35 chip in the fall of 2022. After all, the 12th-generation Core's large and small core design has a more advantage in peak performance and dynamic power consumption, and is more suitable for computers with small-sized layouts like all-in-one.
In other words, Surface Studio's main competitiveness is actually its product form. Surface Studio does not follow the iMac fusion route like most AIO computers. Instead, it adopts a distinctive suspension bracket design: the independent base can reduce the weight of the screen part, which not only allows the computer to be placed more stable, but also allows the host part to be equipped with a larger radiator to improve product performance and free up space. boldly speculates that the appearance of Surface Studio is very likely to be premature than the configuration.
From another perspective, the hardware idea of designing first actually greatly limits the use scenarios of Surface Studio.In Microsoft's vision, Surface Studio's zero-gravity bracket allows users to adjust the shape of Surface Studio according to actual usage scenarios, allowing computers to "respond to changes in everything."
But except for a few users who can really use multiple forms to switch, the design of Surface Studio will only cause inconvenience to ordinary users. For example, Surface Studio cannot switch to vertical screen like a general commercial display, and it cannot rotate the base left and right, which is more inconvenient when displaying screen content to others. In addition, Surface Studio cannot use VESA cantilevers, and it also occupies a larger desktop area.
Image source: Microsoft
It can be said that in order to satisfy the experience of a few people, Surface Studio sacrificed the user experience of most AIO users. Just like Apple, Microsoft has preset a very good scene for Surface Studio, but only a few people can see this scene.
In addition to the extremely limited application scenarios, another problem with Surface Studio is its pricing. As a desktop-level AIO computer, Surface Studio is also aimed at designer users who have performance requirements. Not to mention the top hardware performance, it should at least keep up with the times and be on par with gaming laptops during the same period.
But for some reason, Microsoft actually equipped Surface Studio with the previous generation of H35 platform. The power consumption of the 11370H's high TDP configuration is only the minimum power consumption when mainstream H45 gaming laptops maintain normal operation this year. Considering that in another 3 months we can wait for the mobile version of the 13th generation Core , it is difficult for people to uncover the 11th generation H35 computer at this point in time.
But even if Microsoft is really clearing inventory this time, compared with the H35 or even H45 gaming laptops on the market, the price of Microsoft Surface Studio is enough to "dissuade" potential users - Surface Studio is as high as US$4,299, which is approximately RMB 30,500. At this price, you can buy a H45 gaming laptop with a higher configuration, and then buy a larger high-resolution touch screen and an electromagnetic number painting set.
Image source: Microsoft
This "unexplained style" pricing method is actually an important reason for the low market competitiveness of Microsoft hardware products. When the first three generations of surfaces, even the first generations of Surface Book and Surface Laptop were released, we can also say that Microsoft's pricing was too high to leave room for OEM manufacturers to learn. But with the improvement of the product strength of PC manufacturers, Microsoft has become a brand that is out of touch with the times. On the one hand, there is disconnected hardware strength, and on the other hand, there is unrealistic and high pricing. It is natural that Surface’s poor sales are not good.
Besides, PC manufacturers no longer need Microsoft's Surface series to lead the way. They have found a new "PC model student" - Intel NUC.
NUC is the new Surface?
At the beginning, NUC was nothing more than Intel 's attempt at small PC bare-systems. However, after multiple generations of product iterations, Intel NUC has become a new category that spans laptop , mini PCs, high-performance all-in-one machines, embedded development platform and even small computing units. The first-party production of ensures that NUC can use the latest processors and chipsets at the first time, and will not fall behind in performance. It also ensures that this solution can be "borrowed" by other brands at the first time.
If the emergence of the Surface series was Microsoft teaching PC brands to design computers, then the emergence of NUC is actually Intel that directly provides PC brands with "standard answers" that can be used directly, and also leaves enough customization space for the brand.
Image source: Microsoft
Although Intel's NUC still has no cost-effectiveness in China in terms of price, NUC11's "standard answer" identity, NUC concept is more likely to be learned by PC brands than Surface, and it is more likely to see domestic high-performance games NUC using the same or similar architecture in the future. By then, although NUC is not a Surface, it will be destined to surpass Surface.
