RIP Surface 3, Microsoft to give up on the Laptop-tablet duo?

Microsoft has announced that it is going to stop manufacturing the Surface 3 tablet by the end of 2016. Shockingly, there has been no hint of a replacement yet.

The Surface line of tablets has been Microsoft’s vision of a world where your tablet can double up as a lightweight laptop. Unfortunately for them, it hasn’t worked out that way and the Surface hasn’t really caught on. Unveiled in May of 2015, the Surface is way past its upgrade date and there have been reports of dwindling stocks. The company has now confirmed that they would soon be halting the production of the tablet.

“Since launching Surface 3 over a year ago, we have seen strong demand and satisfaction amongst our customers,” Microsoft said in a statement. “Inventory is now limited and by the end of December 2016, we will no longer manufacture Surface 3 devices.”

As of yet, there is no news of a potential successor. The software giant suffered a huge write-off in 2013 worth nearly a billion dollar due to unsold Surface tablets. Although the Surface 3 has seen a much better demand, it hasn’t really been that profitable either. It is possible that Microsoft may be abandoning the idea of a Surface tablet altogether and introduce something different.

Whatever the Redmond-based company decides, it’s highly likely that there would be no hardware announcements this year.

Source-ZDNet Image-YouTube