Surface Pro 8 concept shows how Microsoft could improve its premium 2-in-1 convertible tablet

It has been almost a year since Microsoft announced the Surface Pro 7, a somewhat iterative upgrade over the Surface Pro 6, at least visually. Microsoft stuck with large bezels for last year's premium 2-in-1, giving it a less refined look than the Surface Pro X. The Redmond-based company has since released the Surface Go 2 and Surface Book 3 that both have slimmer bezels than the Surface Pro 7, albeit the design of the Surface Book 3 remains unchanged from the Surface Book 2. Nonetheless, it seems apt for Microsoft to introduce slimmer bezels to the next Surface Pro, which is now the odd one out in the company's product stack, save for the Surface Duo of course.

In the spirit of the next Surface Pro, Concept Creator and LetsGoDigital have partnered to offer a glimpse of how the Surface Pro 8 could look. Unsurprisingly, the renders resemble the Surface Pro X, although Concept Creator has made a few tweaks to the design. One of the most significant changes besides slimmer display bezels is the switch to all USB Type-C ports, which would be an un-Microsoft thing to do. Microsoft is wedded to its Surface Connect port, so we doubt that the company will drop it as of the Surface Pro 8.

Microsoft equipped the Surface Pro 7 with Ice Lake processors, so we would expect it to switch to Intel's upcoming Tiger Lake architecture for the Surface Pro 8. This switch will bring Intel Xe Graphics with it, which will offer significantly more graphics horsepower than the Iris Plus Graphics in the Surface Pro 7 series offers. There is no word about when Microsoft will announce the Surface Pro 8, but we imagine that the device will start appearing on regulatory body websites like Energy Star and the FCC about a month to six weeks ahead of its release.