Surface 'mini': Microsoft's rumored small tablet

Microsoft has reportedly been working on a miniature version of its Surface tablet for nearly two years, but the wait may be over. The company has just sent out invitations to a Microsoft Surface event on May 20th, with the tagline "Join us for a small gathering."

While that could obviously simply refer to a small gathering of attendees to see the latest device that Microsoft has to offer, it seems far more likely to be a tease for the company's latest product, particularly since Microsoft already recently refreshed the full-size Surface line of devices. An early 2014 release date for the Surface Mini would also line up with last September's reporting.

Geekwire also reports that Panay also confirmed that Surface 2 LTE versions will debut early next year on AT&T in the US and Vodafone in Europe. Panay had previously revealed that the Surface 2 would include LTE variants, but he also clarified that there won't be a Surface Pro 2 version with LTE.

Microsoft unveiled its Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 devices at an event in New York City yesterday. The new tablets look a lot like the original Surface RT and Surface Pro at first glance, but beneath the surface Microsoft has made some significant changes to speed and battery life, as well as to the devices' ability to be used comfortably in the lap. While many have questioned Microsoft's Surface efforts, it's clear that the company is very serious about its future as a "devices and services" company. We got a chance to sit down with Microsoft's Panos Panay, the man in charge of the company's Surface efforts, to talk about the new devices and the Surface's future.

One of the main goals of Microsoft's presentation was to explain why consumers would want to buy into Surface and the company's broader ecosystem. With a focus on creativity and productivity, Panay took to the stage and highlighted the device's ability to process 6K files from a Red Camera, along with a new Surface Music Cover that allows aspiring DJs to mix music. There's a bundling of Skype, Office, and SkyDrive, but the message was about speed and power for the Surface Pro 2, and even to a certain extent the Surface 2. "They had to be faster, they had to have longer battery life," says Panay. "We had to innovate, innovate, innovate."

Leading up to Microsoft's Build developer conference there were a number of rumors related to a possible Surface announcement. Now that both keynotes are over it's clear there's no new 7- or 8-inch Surface tablet or a refreshed Haswell Surface Pro. However, Microsoft appears to be dropping some accidental hints at the future of Surface and other 7- and 8-inch tablets.

In a session today at Build, on building apps across multiple screen sizes, Microsoft showed off some of the anticipated screen sizes for small Windows 8.1-powered tablets. Although the list, used in the company's developer tools for testing, wasn't exhaustive, one particular resolution and screen size caught our eye: a 10.6-inch display running at 2560 x 1440. Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet includes a 10.6-inch display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, a screen size also listed in Microsoft's tools. The inclusion of a higher resolution is surprising as the 10.6-inch screen isn't a size that's used widely by other PC makers. Most have standardized around 13.3-inch and 11.6-inch panels for laptops and tablets, with a variety of other non-standard sizes outside of that. Microsoft didn't detail which manufacturers would create 10.6-inch devices, but given the limited use of that display it's possible the company has accidentally revealed a high-resolution Surface.

Microsoft is planning to refresh its Surface RT with a Qualcomm processor. Existing Surface RT devices use Nvidia's Tegra 3 chipset, but Bloomberg reports that a refreshed version will ship using Qualcomm processors, while Nvidia continues to be a supplier for "some versions." The switch to Qualcomm, which appears to be for unannounced Surface RT devices, will likely come into effect later this year.

Sources familiar with Microsoft's Surface plans have revealed to The Verge that the company is testing Windows RT 8.1 Surface devices with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 processor. The chip includes integrated LTE connectivity, allowing Microsoft to potentially ship its first Surface device with mobile broadband. Microsoft's ecosystem and planning chief, Mike Angiulo, hinted at this possibility while defending the Windows RT operating system earlier this year. "And on the ARM side, there is a propensity for a much higher percentage of PCs that are going to ship with mobile broadband [3G / 4G]," said Angiulo at the time.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a new lineup of Surface tablets is in the works from Microsoft, including a 7-inch version. It's not yet clear what form the new Surface might take, but the Journal claims the 7-inch model will go into mass production later this year. The news follows Microsoft's recent adjustment of the Windows 8 specification to allow for smaller tablets with a 1024 x 768 resolution. The Verge also understands that Redmond has begun work on a 7-inch tablet under the Xbox brand, although the Journal's report doesn't mention gaming.

According to one of the Journal's sources, Microsoft only recently decided to move forward with a smaller tablet in response to products such as the iPad mini and Nexus 7 — it reportedly wasn't part of the company's strategy last year. The rumor comes amid more gloomy news for the traditional PC industry, with IDC finding sales down 13.9 percent across the globe. Despite modest sales so far, it could be that Microsoft has decided Surface is the future of the company.

Microsoft is building its own 7-inch gaming tablet. Multiple sources familiar with plans within Redmond have confirmed to The Verge that initial hardware planning for an Xbox Surface is underway. Specifications for an Xbox Surface 7-inch tablet computing device leaked back in June ahead of Microsoft's Surface RT and Surface Pro announcement. We're told that the initial specs were accurate and that the final implementation is being worked on.

The Xbox Surface will likely include a custom ARM processor and high-bandwidth RAM designed specifically for gaming tasks. We're told these specifications could be altered to accommodate an unannounced Intel SoC and that the Xbox Surface is being developed independent of specific hardware architecture. Microsoft's Xbox Surface won't run a full version of Windows, rather this 7-inch tablet will run a custom Windows kernel. Messaging and other tablet functions may be supported, but the focus is on gaming.