The productive leaker Evan Blass has another leak for us: official search renderings of the Microsoft Surface Duo, just prior to their announced release date.
As usual, not much comment was made, although Blass claims that the leak is specific to the Surface Duo that will be sold by AT&T. And it should be on the market before the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 hits in September.
Honestly, there’s not much here that looks different from recent leaks – than indeed the original teaser that Microsoft gave us almost a year ago. The only real difference we can see is the flash in the top right corner of the open handset.
What’s more interesting is how Microsoft’s first smartphone software looks wise after it finally put the Windows Phone experiment back out of its misery in 2016. And make no mistake about it, this is clearly and obviously an Android handset, despite the presence of Microsoft stalwarts Edge, OneNote, Teams, LinkedIn, Office and Outlook.
For starters, the required Google folder is there, and we can clearly see the icons for Maps, Chrome, Google, and Gmail unpacking. The Play Store and YouTube both get prime positions in the middle of the home screen, and there’s even a Google search bar at the top of the left screen. And you, Bing?
In terms of third-party apps, there’s just Spotify on the homepage, though mysteriously there also seem to be notifications for both Facebook Messenger and Twitter in the top left corner for a bit of real taste.
We would not have to wait too long to see what Microsoft’s acceptance of Android looks like in action. While the Surface Duo was originally intended for Holiday 2020, the company has reportedly moved things forward so that the handset can take over Samsung’s foldable: the Galaxy Z Fold 2. Rumors point to an August 24 revelation – a week ahead of Samsung has promised more details about his own fill.
Previous Surface Duo leaks point to a handset powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor and 6GB of RAM, with storage configurations of 64, 128 and 256GB.
The two screens on the Surface Duo are thought to be 5.6-inch 1800 x 1350 AMOLED displays, and there will be a single 11-megapixel camera, which doubles as for selfies and normal photos. It will run Android 10, and will be powered by a 3,460 mAh battery – though how that will come with two large screens is one of the big known unknowns of things as they stand.
Surface Duo vs Galaxy Z Fold 2
The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is another type of fold-out phone, with a 6.2-inch screen on the outside that you can use when the device is locked. The interior screen measures 7.6 inches when folded out and has a refresh rate of 120Hz. Samsung has also created a new hinge that can stay open at multiple angles, adding fibers under the hinge to sweep away all dust and debris and narrow the hole when the phone is closed.
Samsung has not yet revealed the full specs of the Z Fold 2, but we would expect a newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus processor and a battery that has a capacity of 4,380 mAh like the original.
Overall, the Surface Duo looks intriguing, but the pricing and how well the software works across the dual displays will go a long way toward determining how it performs against the Galaxy Z Fold 2.
