Microsoft will unveil new Surface hardware and updates to its Windows 11 operating system at an event later this month. The Digital Event will take place on March 21 and can be streamed live from the Microsoft website from 5pm GMT / 9am PT / 12pm ET.
"Tune in here for the latest in scaling AI in your environment with Copilot, Windows, and Surface,” Microsoft teases. Whispers suggest we’ll see new Surface devices, including the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, announced during the online-only keynote.
Both devices, designed from the ground up to take advantage of Windows 11, will be powered by faster internals, sources say. Microsoft could also fit the latest Surface Pro with an OLED display.
That’s a substantial upgrade over its predecessor, Surface Pro 9, which sports a 13-inch LCD PixelSense display. OLED panels are commonplace on smartphones and high-end Smart TVs, but are rarer on laptops and tablets. The technology offers more vibrant colours and cavernous blacks. It can also extend battery life when using Dark Mode because of the way individual pixels illuminate.
Elsewhere, Surface Pro 10 is expected to hew extremely close to its predecessor’s design. That means we’ll almost certainly see the same hybrid design, stylus support, and detachable magnetic keyboard.
But while the Surface Pro 10 is tipped to look identical to the existing models in the Microsoft Store, the next laptop from the Redmond-based technology company is rumoured to enjoy a total redesign. Sources suggest we’ll see an all-new design with thinner bezels around the screen — potentially offering more screen real estate without expanding the overall footprint of the device.
Microsoft will refresh its design with rounded corners and a haptic trackpad that simulates the sensation of a click. There will be two USB-C ports, with a USB-A still making the cut too, so you won’t have to worry about packing any dongles in your bag.
There will be two separate variants of the Surface Laptop 6, sources say, shipping with either Intel Core Ultra or Snapdragon X Elite. According to The Verge, the Intel-powered model will arrive on store shelves first in April, with the Qualcomm models following in June.
Aside from the new hardware, Microsoft is also tipped to announce new Artificial Intelligence (AI) features for its Windows 11 desktop operating system. Many of these features will be baked into its Copilot assistant, helping you quickly find documents, emails, and system settings using natural language. Copilot is built on the same underlying technology as ChatGPT, so it can also used to quickly summarise lengthy documents into bullet points, help adjust the tone of emails, and more.
Although Copilot is available to use free of charge within the operating system, Microsoft has locked away the ability to rely on its AI helper in certain applications — like Microsoft Word and Excel — behind a monthly subscription. It's unclear whether all of the features due to be announced at the digital event will be rolled out to everyone or only paid subscribers.
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Microsoft rolled-out a feature-packed update to Windows 11 this month, so we’re unlikely to hear anything too revolutionary. The next major upgrade to the operating system isn’t tipped to land until October this year — an update that at one point was rumoured to be branded as Windows 12.
