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The new steve jobs
Microsoft thinks a dual-screen Android phone can take on Apple and Samsung
And it’s turning to a rival to get back in the phone game.
OCTOBER 3, 2019 4:00 AM PDT
Microsoft's Surface Duo runs on Android and will hit the market late next year.
Sarah Tew/CNET
More than two decades ago, Microsoft started designing software for mobile devices. Two years ago, it gave up on phones, conceding that Google and Apple had won the OS battle. On Wednesday, Microsoft reversed course, unveiling a dual-screen smartphone. But rather than push a homegrown operating system in phones, Microsoft has taken up rival Google's Android software, which powers over 2.5 billion devices around the world.
During an event Wednesday in New York, Microsoft showed off its new Surface Duo, as well as a dual-screen computer called the Surface Neo. The Surface Duo sports two 5.6-inch displays that swing 360 degrees around a hinge and combine to make an 8.3-inch display. The company didn't give many details about the device but touted the ability to do things like view your inbox on one half of the device while responding to a specific email on the other.
"We started really with the goal of how can we help make people more productive," Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president for Microsoft's modern life, search and devices group, said in an interview after Wednesday's event. "If you're going to have a device that fits in your pocket, and you can do phone calls and you want to run apps ... it made sense for us to choose" Android.
Watch this: Surface Neo and Surface Duo: Up close with Microsoft's...
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The Surface Duo marks Microsoft's foray back into the world of smartphones after roughly 20 years trying -- and failing -- to position Windows as the phone OS of choice. Opting to make an Android phone now is Microsoft's admission that it's unlikely to make an operating system that powers the bulk of the world's smartphones -- but it still needs to be a part of the mobile world. Instead of controlling every aspect of the device, Microsoft has to be content with its current mission: Getting Office and its other services into as many places as it can, while using artificial intelligence to make everything smarter.
"Coming out with a new version of Windows [OS] on a phone ... when the market's settled on Android and iOS doesn't make sense," Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi said. "Using Android, which is an established OS with an established ecosystem, and optimizing Microsoft first-party apps for it ... is going to be much easier than trying to bring Windows to a phone."
Microsoft's move comes at a time when it's getting harder for companies to sell pricey smartphones. There are really only three major players in smartphone hardware today -- Samsung, Huawei and Apple -- and even those companies have struggled to spur interest in their highest-end devices. People are increasingly buying less-expensive models and holding onto them for years.
