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The Surface Duo keeps getting cheaper. What does that mean for Microsoft's mobile strategy? - ZDNet

The Surface Duo keeps getting cheaper. What does that mean for Microsoft's mobile strategy? - ZDNet

The Surface Duo keeps getting cheaper. What does that mean for Microsoft's mobile strategy? - ZDNet
Jun 21, 2021 4 mins, 46 secs

After less than a year in the market, the successive price cuts are showing that the Surface Duo has been met with less enthusiasm from consumers than expected.

"This is industry pushing technology, and it's technology pushing possibilities," said Microsoft's chief product officer Panos Panay two years ago as he revealed the company's first dual-screen device, the Surface Duo, to the public.

Microsoft went all-in and sold the Surface Duo as a premium product, with two side-by-side 5.6-inch displays that come together in a foldable device that stands right between a phone and a tablet.

Two months after the Surface Duo was released, fans spotted that the device could be bought for $200 less; the sale dropped to $699 last May, and now Microsoft's futuristic flagship is selling for the same price as an ordinary smartphone, at $549.

After much less than a year in the market, the successive price cuts are showing that the Surface Duo has been met with less enthusiasm from consumers than expected. .

The Surface Duo was meant to help Microsoft make a serious dent in the mobile market after years of failure.

"Launching the Surface Duo was part of the company's strategy to ensure that it has a place in the future of mobile computing." .

The Redmond giant is not new to the world of mobile, but it is not best known for its successes.

As demonstrated by Apple and Google, succeeding in the smartphone market is indeed the first step before locking loyal customers into an ecosystem of connected apps and services – an appealing prospect for a company like Microsoft that, from Outlook to Cortana, has plenty to offer when it comes to running software on mobile.

Faced with the failure of its Windows Phone, and a market virtually dominated by Google and Apple's operating systems, Microsoft changed strategies for the Surface Duo.

"Partnering with Google and adopting Android was the right thing to do on the OS front as Microsoft has been failing with its Windows Phone operating systems for a long time," says Joshi.

"This provided Microsoft with a huge addressable Android user base and a rich ecosystem of apps and services which could have driven device adoption." .

It's a strategy that has been in the works for some time now, and has seen Microsoft signing various deals that enable the company to push its ecosystem of apps and services on alternative operating systems.

In another effort to strengthen its ecosystem despite the lack of a hand in the mobile market, Microsoft also released the Microsoft Your Phone app, which enables Windows 10 users to interact with their photos, messages and notifications on their Android devices directly from their PC screens. .

In that context, partnering with Android seemed the right call – and it could have worked had Microsoft not decided to base the company's comeback in mobile on a brand-new form factor that is yet to win users' hearts. ?

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The device is too bulky as a smartphone and too clumsy as a tablet, continues Kitagawa, who is adamant that the series of price cuts since launch are a reflection of the Surface Duo's unsuccessful performance so far. ?

Worst still, some of the specs that are key to the appeal of a mobile device failed to convince: for example, the 11 MP camera, the older Snapdragon 855 processor and the relatively heavy weight of the device disappointed many users.

Each of these manufacturers has now amassed large customer bases, and it will be challenging for Microsoft to compete and thrive against such strong market shares. 

For Mawston, Microsoft's best move would be to focus on segments that have already shown that they can bring growth – namely, tablets like the Surface Book, Pro and Go devices

The company is already a leader in the market, and its outlook there seems much brighter, according to the analyst. 

Perhaps the dual-screen device was not all that big a deal to Microsoft after all, and instead was designed to be an experimental shot at a new form factor in mobile – a way to test the water with consumers, as part of a wider attempt to deliver Microsoft services on new devices. 

For Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, there was less at stake for Microsoft with the Surface Duo than it might seem

"I believe Microsoft will continue to experiment with devices like the Surface Duo," Wood tells ZDNet

"It provides a chance to expand the reach of its increasingly successful Surface devices business and as technology evolves, and new components like flexible displays start to get integrated into devices, the lessons from the Surface Duo could be very valuable." 

The mobile market is entering a phase of growth, and after a year of cautious spending, consumers are now eager to replace their handsets

The question is whether Microsoft will continue to try to seize that opportunity

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