Microsoft says it is pulling the plug on the Surface 3 at the end of the year. There are still Surface 3s available in the meantime, though supplies are growing scarce at the moment.
This weekend Microsoft gave the official statement to the tech publication Thurott announcing the end of production.
Since launching Surface 3 over a year ago, we have seen strong demand and satisfaction amongst our customers. Inventory is now limited and by the end of December 2016, we will no longer manufacture Surface 3 devices.
There are currently two SKUs left at NeweggBusiness. Click links for current pricing and discounts.
- Microsoft Surface 3 (Intel Atom x7 /4 GB RAM / 64 GB SSD)
- Microsoft Surface 3 (Intel Atom x7/2 GB RAM/ 64 GB SSD)
The future is unclear for the Surface product line
Aside from isolated Surface 4 rumors earlier this year, Microsoft has kept mum on what’s next for its low-cost tablets.
Analysts, like Roger Kay at Endpoint Technologies Associates, thinks it’s a good idea for Microsoft to scrap the Surface line. He told PCWorld that the Surface 3 upset OEMs allied with Microsoft. “I have talked to a lot of OEMs, and they roll their eyes when they hear Surface,” Kay said.
Other Windows tablets in the $400-$700 range that the Surface 3 occupies include the Lenovo Miix 700, HP Pro 400-series and HP Pro 600-series.
Fiercer competition in that price range comes from Android tablets (most notably Samsung Galaxy Tab S2), and Apple iPad Air.
With the Apple iPad Pro emerging as a competitor to the Surface Pro 4, it might make sense for Microsoft to shift more focus towards the higher end of the tablet / 2 in 1 market. The Surface Pro line has gained foothold here in the past 18 months, something that Redmond will not want to relinquish.
If that is the case, and the Surface 4 line never comes into fruition, consumers looking for inexpensive Surface 3 models will find some nice deals on refurbished items as retailers look to clear inventory.
If Surface 3 inventory is anything like the refurbished Surface Pro 2 market, SKUs will be found a couple years after retirement.
iPad Pro is not a competitor if you plan to use it in a enterprise environment. Unless you have very basic users.
Is that due to iPad Pro being iOS instead of OSX? Or is it a device management issue?
Yes +Adam this is because the Ipad “pro” is an ios device. It does not support a wide range of desktop applications, it has very limited connection capability, and is forever going to be limited by a mobile operating system. If it ran osx it would be a competitor with the surface pro but that is not the case. In no way does the Ipad pro qualify as a competitor with the Surface Pro 4. They are not targeting the same audiences, they are not marketed at the same price points, and they differ majorly in their technical specifications and abilities.
Saying that a large ipad running mobile applications is a competitor with tablet running full windows 10, up to 2 terabytes of internal storage, expandable sd card storage, usb 3.0 and video out ports, and up to an i7 processor with 16gb of ram. The ipad will never be able to do a millionth of the things that the surface can. There is no comparison. The ipad pro is a toy being marketed to people who are convinced that Apple is the best when in reality it is an expensive plank and they would be better off just buying a MacBook air for about the same price.
Furthermore you comments about Microsoft making gains in the High End tablet market is rather funny as until recently Microsoft basically made up that entire market by itself. Other than a few very very expensive art tablets the Surface was the only game in town until a bunch of surface knockoffs started to surface (pun accidental but enjoyed nonetheless). The Lenovo mixx 700 the Asus Transformer 3 pro, the Samsung variant, and even a Huawei windows tablet pc I saw the other day. They are all trying to cut into the Pie that Microsoft created and Owns.