It is not known why Microsoft will launch the Surface Duo in France

Pinned down by the American press when it was launched, the Surface Duo will still be marketed in France, with a long delay. It makes you wonder why.

On September 10, Microsoft launched the Surface Duo in the United States, a smartphone with the particularity of combining two screens linked by a hinge. Promising on paper, this foldable technological object has cooled the American press, especially on the side of hardware limits. “”, Lamented The Verge in its verdict. Therefore, one wonders why Microsoft is preparing to offer the product in other markets.

In a press release released on September 15, the Redmond firm formalized the arrival of the Surface Duo in France, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany in early 2021. Problem? It does not promise any improvement over the model available across the Atlantic, apart from applications increasingly optimized for the dual screen (example: TikTok).

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The Surface duo

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft would have done better to wait for the Surface Duo 2

The main criticisms wiped by the Surface Duo concern its technical sheet, dated despite a very high price (between $ 1,400 and $ 1,500). Mediocre camera device, absent NFC, screens limited to 60 Hz, no wireless charging, forgotten 5G, small 3,577 mAh battery… The defects are numerous and unworthy of a product thought to create a break by offering new uses. Its processor is the best symbol of this: announced in 2018 for the high-end devices of 2019, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 was already outdated in 2020. It will be even more so in 2021.

Therefore, Microsoft is preparing to sell a product deemed disappointing in the coming months. The multinational is falling back into some of its faults: it had proceeded in the same way for the release of Surface Studio, with several months which separated the arrivals in the United States and in France (without hardware change between the two, reducing the concept of quality / price ratio). To get it right, Microsoft should instead wait for the second generation of the Surface Duo – if second generation there is – and launch it everywhere at the same time.

With a possible Surface Duo 2 more refined, everyone would come out a winner: Microsoft, which would avoid a new setback, and users, who would benefit from a more successful experience. This can be seen as positive for the future of the Surface Duo, a product Microsoft strongly believes in. In an article published on December 15 on the blog, Pete Kyriacou, head of the Microsoft Devices department, mentions “”. “”, Tempered anyway Windows Central in its grip.