Microsoft Surface Mini to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor

The Microsoft Surface family was announced by Steve Ballmer back in mid-June 2012 and debuted with Surface RT and Surface Pro. While the first one uses NVIDIA's Tegra 3 SoC, the Pro packs an Intel Ivy Bridge processor. Surface 2 also uses a Tegra SoC by NVIDIA and Surface 2 Pro is powered by an Intel chip, but the upcoming Microsoft Surface Mini is expected to be the first Microsoft slate to take advantage of a mobile chip built by Qualcomm.

According to insiders familiar with this matter quoted by Bloomberg, Microsoft will uncover the Surface Mini in New York on May 20. Next to this Qualcomm-powered tablet, the company will also reveal other models, "including ones powered by Intel Corp. processors." Since this could mean that more than two new models will be announced, it is still possible that Microsoft will not drop the NVIDIA Tegra chips completely.

For now all these should be taken with a grain of salt, since Microsoft, NVIDIA and Qualcomm declined to comment anything about the upcoming slates. We will get back to the new Microsoft Surface generation as the invites to the May 20 event start reaching the press - if the rumor about this event proves to be true.