No such thing as Surface Pro 5, says Microsoft exec

Microsoft recently launched the Surface Laptop and with a new hardware event lined up on May 23, it is now expected Microsoft take off the wraps of a new Surface device.

Going by the device lineup and unveiling timeline, it is expected that the Surface Pro 4 will be the next model to get an upgrade. But going by the looks of it, this is literally what’s going to happen on May 23: Microsoft will not release a new Surface model, but only an upgrade to the existing Surface Pro configuration.

In an interview with CNET, Panos Panay, Microsoft’s executive responsible for everything Surface, said that the Surface Pro 4 is here to stay, as it’s still a very capable device, even if most people are already looking at what’s next for this device.

“If people don’t want to buy our Pro 4 at this time, that’s OK,” Panay stated. “What I’m super, super sure of is that the people using a Pro 4 have a product that’s going to be competitive for five years,” he said.

Regarding the possibility of a new Surface Pro 5, Panos Panay stated that the Surface Pro 5 does not exist just yet, but has not ruled out a possibility yet. This most likely means that a Surface Pro 4 refresh is very likely to be unveiled on May 23, and not a new-generation model.

“When it’s meaningful and the change is right, we’ll put it on market. Meaningful change isn’t necessarily a hardware change, which is what a lot of people look for. They’re like, ‘Where’s the latest processor?’ That’s not what I mean. I’m looking for an experiential change that makes a huge difference in product line,” Panay enumerated.

“You’ll see that same meaningful impact when Pro 5, or Pro Next hits the market. There’s no such thing as a Pro 5,” he said.

This means the Surface Pro 5 is not confirmed but the May 23 event is most likely to witness the debut of a hardware upgrade for the Surface Pro 4 and not of an entirely new generation. We can expect new chipsets, better storage and RAM, 4K screens, and an improved Surface Pen to be among the important upgrades.