Rumor: next Surface Duo smartphone will have a foldable screen

Microsoft may move away from its Surface Duo design with two separate screens. Anonymous sources of the company report this to Windows Central. The company would move to a foldable screen for the next Surface smartphone.

Microsoft initially had a Surface Duo 3 design with two separate screens ready, but eventually scrapped it, claims Windows Central. This canceled dual-screen phone would have been released at the end of this year with thinner screen edges, wireless charging and “other improvements”. Microsoft is now working on a Surface Duo with a foldable screen. The company is said to have started exploring a foldable design after the Surface Duo 2 was received with mixed reviews.

The exact specifications of Microsoft’s upcoming foldable are not yet known. There is also no concrete release schedule yet, according to Windows Central, which makes it unlikely that the originally intended Surface Duo 3 release will be achieved in the fall of 2023. Sources do say that the screen of the next Surface Duo can be folded 180 degrees.

It is not known whether the upcoming smartphone will keep the Surface Duo naming, because the device will no longer have two separate screens. Internally, the device would be known as the third generation Surface Duo. Microsoft would continue to work on the “ecosystem experience” of Microsoft’s Android phones and Windows PCs. The company would also like to expand its Android line-up and have prototypes of a ‘traditional’ smartphone with a flat screen.

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 smartphone with two separate screens