Microsoft is preparing the groundwork for the next generation of mobile devices that can be folded and unfolded like books. At its hardware event on Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled Surface Neo and Surface Duo folding mobile devices. Surface Duo also supports voice calling feature. Even as new hardware has hogged all the limelight, the real star of the event was Windows 10x, a customised version of operating system set to power these future foldable and dual-screen devices.
Windows 10x brings the best of Windows 10 to deliver multi-screen experience. The optimisations are quite similar to what Google has done with Android 10 for foldable phones. Microsoft Windows 10x, however, focuses more on productivity and power users. Microsoft said users familiar with Windows 10 will find the Windows 10X easy to get started with. There’s also a big focus on optimising the battery life as the devices run two high resolution screens.
“Windows 10X joins the family [Windows 10 iterations], built on the latest investments in these shared technologies including newly implemented support for running Win32 applications in a container. This, together with further componentization and additional investments, gives us the power to deliver more flexible experiences with a wide range of input types and hardware postures all while managing Windows applications and how they use the battery,” Microsoft explained on its website.
Windows 10X will be coming in the fall of 2020. While Microsoft’s dual-screen Surface Neo is confirmed to have the new OS, a range of third-party of OEMs such as Asus, HP, Lenovo, and Dell will launch Windows 10x powered devices. The first generation of Windows 10x devices will come with different size, specifications, and design. All of these devices will be powered by Intel processors.
Microsoft’s new operating system comes at a time when smartphone and other technology companies are making efforts to build commercially viable foldable devices. The new form factor hasn’t had a fairytale start after Samsung delayed the launch of foldable Galaxy Fold. Huawei’s Mate X has also seen a similar delay.
Windows 10x is likely to encourage hardware partners to experiment with the new form factor. Unlike Google, Microsoft has already presented reference devices, Surface Neo and Duo, to the hardware partners. Earlier this year, Asus announced ZenBook Pro Duo (UX581) featuring two displays – 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) OLED touchscreen, a 4K ScreenPad Plus and a touchpad.
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