Canceled Microsoft Surface Mini Shows Itself in Emerged Photos
It turns out that Microsoft planned to release a product called the Surface Mini, a smaller 8-inch version of the company's popular two-in-one Surface offerings.
According to Thurrott, the project was cancelled at the very last minute as in the tablet was mass produced and was already on its way to retailers and was ready to go on sale before it was ultimately axed.
However, despite the doom that met the Microsoft Surface Mini before it even saw the light of day, Windows Central managed to provide a set of photos showing what it would have looked like.
The device on the images was colored black and looked a bit bulky. The design would look outdated seeing that it was supposed to be released in 2014. New outings of tablets and smartphones get thinner every year.
It had a kickstand and a microSD card slot was visible along with a headphone jack, a micro USB port for and a USB-OTG port. Thurrott provided another photo showing the Microsoft Surface Mini in red.
With Windows RT out if the box, the device came with a 1,440 × 1,080 display and was powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with only 1 GB of random-access memory (RAM). It came with 32 GB and 64 GB storage configuration.
As to why the Microsoft Surface Mini was ultimately canned, Thurrott says that it did not offer anything new to the table compared to the products that were already in the market that time. Add to that the possible issues that the Surface RT can bring about.
Despite this, the Surface line remained strong and the absence of Surface Mini may have just contributed to that. The products — including the Surface Pro, the Surface Studio, the Surface Laptop and Surface Book — continue to be the money makers crowning jewels for Microsoft.
