Price hikes have soured the mood of today’s slate of Surface PCs. It seems inevitable that whatever comes next from Microsoft’s cult-favorite Surface brand may be even more expensive. If you were hoping that rising costs would force Microsoft to go back to the drawing board to create something remarkable, you should really dampen your expectations.
The German-language tech news site WinFuture offered a sweeping leak of what could be Microsoft’s next slate of Copilot+ PCs for 2026. Windows Central also came up with its own report based on anonymous sources, claiming Microsoft is gearing up to hit us with Surface PCs sometime this spring featuring Intel’s latest Core Ultra Series 3 processors. We’ll see devices starting with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There could be options for 2TB of storage and 64GB of RAM. Current versions of the Microsoft Surface Pro 12-inch with the lowest memory spec start at $1,050 without the keyboard add-on. Judging by current Intel-based machines, the next Surface Pro could cost even more.
These new PC/tablet hybrid devices may not be materially different from their previous iterations. According to WinFuture (read via machine translation), multiple European and international retailers have hinted we’ll see a new version of the Surface Pro 12-inch, with a choice of either a Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite or Snapdragon X2 Plus chip. Microsoft launched that hybrid tablet/PC last year with a previous-gen Snapdragon X Plus chipset.
Small upgrades for Surface Laptop
The Surface Laptop may be slightly more interesting. Microsoft may upgrade the screen to OLED for better contrast than LCD. It might also only be available on models with higher chip and memory configurations. A new version of the trackpad may employ more haptics for force feedback when throwing files into a folder, according to Windows Central.
Based on the leaks, Microsoft may save a version with Snapdragon chips until later this year. We probably won’t see a Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip like we saw in the Asus Zenbook A16. The Intel variants similarly won’t be that powerful. We may only see the Core Ultra 5 and Core Ultra 7 series 3 versions. It’s unclear if these laptops will access Intel’s X7 chip for improved GPU and gaming performance.
These leaks have very little info about a new Surface Pro 13-inch. Microsoft may also offer fewer sizes of screen for the Surface Laptop. Previous versions let customers choose between 13.8- and 15-inch models. Microsoft could also launch different versions for commercial buyers. We’re still hoping beyond hope Microsoft will offer an affordable 5G Surface laptop it made exclusively for business end users.
We could be gearing up for a low-key (read: boring) refresh, one with the added tension of rising prices. Back in 2024, Surface co-creator Panos Panay left Microsoft for Amazon to work on Echo devices, Alexa+, and a rumored second-gen Amazon phone. It’s clear now that Microsoft’s Surface brand needs a new spark or it risks fading into obscurity.
