Microsoft's Surface Duo has officially been launched after first being unveiled late last year. The dual-screen device is priced at a sky-high $1,399 which will certainly test the market, particularly given the general downturn in smartphone sales in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Surface-Duo-goes-official-priced-at-a-whopping-1-399-hits-the-market-September-10.485393.0.html
Love that bezel, wish microsoft makes it thicker!
Would love to pick it up when it eventually goes on a clearance sale for $400.
$1400, no way I'm purchasing it then. I would have expected half that.
I suppose it's all about frames of reference and the four things I'd compare a surface duo to are laptops, the galaxy fold, a regular smartphone, and a regular dual screen phone. The Duo wins in two of those comparisons outright by being cheaper than the fold and more productive than a regular smartphone but compared to a laptop like a Samsung Galaxy Book S it's worse for productivity. Compared to an LG smartphone with the Dual Screen addon (LG V60, Velvet, G8X etc.) which come in about half the price while having similar or better core specs it's absolutely not worthwhile. The only things the duo has going for it over LG + Dual Screen are a smaller gap between screens, a more elegant execution, and better software support which while worth a couple of hundred bucks perhaps isn't worth doubling the price! It even loses features like cameras and wireless charging, NFC, in-screen fingerprint readers.
This is Microsoft. Aleays has to have at least one thing which sinks any product with a good idea... High probability we'll read about surface suo in the future inarticles about forgotten failures...