For better or worse, the foldable dual-screen Surface Duo, Microsoft’s first Android phone, was one of the most interesting devices launched last year. According to a new report, a successor to the Surface Duo is in the works to be launched later this year.
The Microsoft Surface Duo promise was one of productivity, allowing you to open two applications side by side or use one application on two screens. With its 360 ° hinge and book-like design, the Surface Duo was similar to a Moleskine notebook.
However, there were some serious flaws in the design, with the phone using an outdated Qualcomm chip, not offering a good quality camera and causing major software problems. According to a new Windows Latest, citing sources familiar with the development, the Surface Duo successor will address all of these issues.
Starting with the chipset, while no specifications have been shared, the second generation of the Microsoft Surface Duo is expected to include a better processor than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, which was out of date even at launch. Another positive effect of the chipset update is that the next Surface Duo will support connection to 5G networks, although it is unclear whether mmWave will also be available.
In the original Duo, the foldable had only one camera that could be used for selfies or for taking pictures in general, depending on how you rotated the phone’s hinge. However, this single camera did not take particularly good pictures. For job offers also found by Windows Latest, Microsoft may be intending to use machine learning techniques to improve camera output from the next Surface Duo, similar to the types of techniques used by Google’s Pixel phones.
Another area of significant improvement for the Surface Duo successor is software. The original Duo opened a new path for Android usability on two screens, but the software was still seen as buggy and inconsistent. For the successor to the Surface Duo, Microsoft is placing a “special emphasis” on fixing the software experience. It remains to be seen whether these improvements on the software side will also make their way to the original Duo.
In that sense, Microsoft continues to hire Android engineers for both the Surface Duo and simply to bring more Microsoft applications to the platform. Some of Microsoft’s investments on the Android side include developing an “obscure regions” API that helps developers know which parts of the screen are not visible and improving Google’s Flutter SDK on foldables.
Microsoft declined to comment on the report.
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