Foldable MS Surface with 9-inch display, Android app support, Intel Lakefield 10nm SoC coming 2020

It looks like Microsoft’s long gestating plans to release a foldable computing device are closer to fruition. The company first started playing with the concept several years ago with the Courier, and has continually revised and refined the concept over subsequent years through to the Andromeda -- the fabled Surface Phone. Jeff Lin, Associate Director of Consumer Electronics at IHS Markit has told Forbes that is supply chain sources expect a folding Surface to arrive as soon as early 2020 or by the middle of the same year.

The mobile Surface will have a foldable 9-inch display, although it is not clear whether this will comprise of a single foldable OLED display (like the Samsung Galaxy Fold or the Huawei Mate X) or will have two separate displays. It will purportedly run a new version of Windows 10 dubbed Windows Core OS (WCOS) for dual display UIs. It will be powered by a 10nm Intel Lakefield SoC and, perhaps importantly, will support Android apps and even Apple’s iCloud services

The foldable Surface will also have always-on-connectivity as a central tenet of its functionality. Whether that means a phone app will also be included remains to be seen, but it will almost certainly be able to make VoIP calls via apps like Microsoft’s own Skype. With Windows Phone sadly dead and buried, it is great to see Microsoft shaping up to re-enter the mobile devices market. It will be interesting to see how it is pitched and who its target audience is. However, more than anything, pricing will likely be key to its success.