Honorable Mention – Microsoft Courier
While the Microsoft Courier may not have technically been a concept gadget since it was mainly discussed via leaks and rumors until years later, we now know that Microsoft’s dreams of building a dual-screen tablet with stylus support were real back in 2009.
In retrospect, it’s not surprising that the Courier never came out, as it was essentially taking the best of what Palm and Apple were doing at the time, and then doubling it, which is no small feat. The Courier was poised to be one part PDA and one part super-powered smartphone years before Samsung released the original Galaxy Note. And if Microsoft had actually found a way to make the Courier happen, it might have been one the few gadgets you can call a real game changer. However, even though the Courier never materialized, its spirit eventually paved the way for a new generation of gadgets like Microsoft’s Surface Duo, so in a way, the Courier’s legacy lives on after all.
