Microsoft confirms its Surface Neo will miss its original Holiday 2020 launch window

Microsoft’s Surface Neo got just about any tech enthusiast, no matter what their stripes, interested when it was first revealed alongside the Surface Duo smartphone last year. The device marries two 9-inch displays with a 360-degree hinge and supports touch, pen and even a clever flip over physical keyboard accessory. Until the past day or so, Microsoft’s own page dedicated to the device indicated that it was still “Coming Holiday 2020.”

As the folks at Neowin have spotted, these words have been scrubbed from the site and it is now delayed indefinitely. The news isn’t really surprising after reports surfaced that Windows 10X, Microsoft’s customized OS for dual-screen devices is running anywhere up to 12 months late. Instead, as Microsoft's hardware chief Panos Panay revealed in a recent company blog post, Windows 10X will debut either late this year, or early next year, but on single-screen devices first.

Given that Window 10 as we know it is designed for single-screen devices, it isn’t entirely clear how Windows 10X single-screen devices will differ – we can only speculate that it has been designed around a more touch-first UI. The confirmation that the Surface Neo won’t be arriving later this year is undoubtedly disappointing as it looks to have a lot of potential. That said, if the operating system isn’t really where Microsoft wants it to be, it is better to be delayed than to launch loaded with bugs with the potential to damage its reputation irreparably.