Microsoft teases Surface Pro and Surface RT tablet refresh


Microsoft has confirmed that it will be refreshing its Surface Windows 8 tablet range over the coming 12 months.


The company has been outlining its plans for 2013 and beyond at its Worldwide Partner Conference this week, and the company's tablet plans have been briefly touched upon.


Microsoft's chief operating office Kevin Turner revealed a slide that acted as a loose update roadmap for the coming year. Among the various Skypes and Bings, there were four entries for Surface.


One of these Surface entries promised an "Update to Surface RT," while another mentioned an "Update to Surface Pro." The other two Surface entry concerned "New accessories" and "New accessory colours."


This would seem to confirm that there will be new versions of Microsoft's two Windows 8 tablets over the coming months. The Surface Pro only launched in February of this year, but the Surface RT launched in October 2012, so we could see a new version hitting shops in just a couple of months.


Just last month it was rumoured that Microsoft would be refreshing the Surface RT with Snapdragon 800 CPUs, pointing to the first 4G-capable Microsoft tablet.


On the Surface Pro front, Microsoft could well incorporate Intel's new power-efficient Haswell processor, which has been appearing in recent Ultrabooks.


Both tablets will feature Microsoft's new Windows 8.1 OS, which will reinstate the famous Start button and boast a bunch of new usability tweaks and fresh native applications.


Next, find out more about the new features of Windows 8.1.


Via: The Verge