Make no mistake about it. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 and Surface 3 are not just planning to give the latest Apple iPads and other tablets a run for serious money but are actually looking to beat them in terms of sales this year.
Reports have it that the Redmondian company is looking to ship over four million units of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 laptop/tablet combo and the Surface 3 tablet when both devices officially hit the markets this year, notes DigiTimes.
In 2014, Microsoft has shipped over two million units of Surface and Surface Pro series products so the over four million target this year is quite lofty.
Last month, the company has announced that its Surface 3 tablet will become available in retail markets in May. With its price of $499, the tablet will be very competitive vis-a-vis the other tablets available in the market by that time.
Official unveiling
Latest word from the grapevine hinted that Microsoft is planning to unveil its next-generation Surface Pro 4 tablet/laptop combo during the upcoming Microsoft Build Developer Conference to be held on April 29 to May 1 at San Francisco, California.
After its formal unveiling, the Surface Pro 4 is projected to enter into mass production in June before it is officially released in July to the retail markets. It has also been reported that Microsoft intends to have the Surface Pro 4 coming out of the box with already the Windows 10 on it so that is why the device has a second half of the year release date.
Since October 2012, when Microsoft first released its Surface tablet, the company has sold over 12 million units, with the best recorded sales coming during the fourth quarter of 2014. The company recorded a 24% increase compared to the same quarter in 2013.
With the over four million units target for the Surface Pro 4 and Surface 3, Microsoft total Windows-based tablet shipments for the year will exceed 15 million units, which is 30% higher than its past sales combined.
More for energy
Initial reports indicate that Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is more energy efficient compared to its predecessor, the Surface Pro 3, but the trade off is that it is weaker in performance than the latter.
Accordingly, the Surface Pro 4 has dropped the Haswell Dual-Core i5 and i7 Intel processors in favor of the new Intel Core M Broadwell chip, which is the same processor used by the new Apple MacBook and several other ultra-slim and fan-less laptops.
Despite being new, the Intel Core M Broadwell chip is obviously less powerful when compared to the Haswell Dual-Core i5 or i7 processors, which the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 uses.
However, the positive uptake on the Broadwell processor is that it is more energy efficient than the i5 or i7 chips and is quantified to have a 30% energy efficiency.