New Microsoft Surface Laptop releases detailed ahead of schedule

Microsoft has been selling its first ARM-based laptops for a while now. Released in June 2024, the Surface Laptop 7 13 and Surface Laptop 15 were recently joined by the smaller Surface Laptop with a 13-inch display and a weaker Snapdragon X Plus chipset (curr. $899.99 on Amazon). Meanwhile, Microsoft refreshed the Surface Laptop 7 with x86-based processors as 'for Business' variants in January.

Now, Windows Central has shed new light on the state of the Surface Laptop series going forward. According to the website, the next ARM-based Surface Laptop may receive a small price bump to distinguish it from the current 13-inch Surface Laptop. In other words, the Surface Laptop 8 will likely retail for over $1,000 even in its entry-level configuration with 16 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD.

At this stage, a launch window remains unconfirmed. However, Windows Central's industry sources are said to be of the opinion that the Surface Laptop 8 will follow Microsoft's pattern of arriving in October. Unsurprisingly, these machines will be paired with Qualcomm's second-generation Snapdragon X series chipsets, which are anticipated to arrive as the Snapdragon X2 series.

By contrast, details about x86-based Surface Laptop 8 SKUs remain uncertain for the time being. Reportedly, the Surface Laptop 8 will only ship with Copilot+ capable processors that require offering 8 high‑performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. Currently, none of Intel's low-wattage laptop processors fit this description. With Panther Lake processors reportedly delayed until next year, it seems unlikely that Intel-based Surface Laptop 8 machines will be ready in time for an early 2026 release. Unfortunately, no other details about these variants have emerged yet.