When it comes to smartphones, Microsoft’s Surface Duo was one of the most interesting smartphones of 2020, even though the brand maintained that the device wasn’t exactly a smartphone. The Surface Duo, with its iconic inwards dual screen, is still a unique Android smartphone on the market. However, that hasn’t prevented Microsoft from working on a second Surface Duo.
According to Windows Latest, Microsoft has been working on the second Surface Duo system since late 2020, with plans to release it in the second half of 2021. The Surface Duo 2 will address some of the original Duo’s major flaws, such as its poor software and camera experience.
Apart from this, the latest Surface device is expected to have upgraded hardware, such as a faster chipset, improved camera sensors, and even 5G support. The device’s software, on the other hand, is supposed to be the main focus.
According to the reports, Microsoft has been buffing up its Surface Duo 2 development team by recruiting more engineers. The company also aims to offer a mobile user experience that brings “the best of Microsoft to the Android ecosystem.”
Microsoft has also been creating the “Obscured Regions” API, which “adds details about the regions of the display that have been obscured by other tasks or device UI.”
“The developer will be able to re-flow the experience into the visible regions using the API. Microsoft said that a Launcher, for example, could animate its bottom drawer to the un-obscured area to enable the user to launch another application”.
Furthermore, the Surface Duo 2 is not the only product Microsoft plans to release in 2021. In April, a new Surface Laptop 4 is expected to be out, as well as a Surface Pro 8 in October or November.
