Microsoft Surface Pro 5 News and Rumors: Will Microsoft Skip Kaby Lake For Intel Cannonlake?

With no sign of an impending Surface Pro 5 launch in June, rumor mills are now suggesting the hybrid may launch early next year.

Microsoft has not made any announcements about Surface Pro 5. At this point, the existence of the device or its development is known through a few credible leaks. However, given the popularity of the Surface line of tablets gained over the last few years, speculation has been rampant about the device and its launch. While a June release for the hybrid seemed highly unlikely many months ago, here is why we think a spring 2017 release is likely.

Intel's Kaby Lake processor is expected to mature and find takers late this year. While devices with Kaby Lake processors were announced at Computex 2016, Microsoft is unlikely to get swayed by the rat race and release a device in haste. Last year's Surface Pro 4 is reason enough to do not so. While a highly rated hybrid, Surface Pro 4 faced initial glitches of battery drain and other niggles attributed to unsorted issues in Skylake processors. Kaby Lake processors promise improved performance while drawing lesser power compared to previous generation Skylake processors.

An interesting possibility is Microsoft may skip utilizing Kaby Lake and jump to Cannonlake. The latter is based on Intel's 10 nm architecture and is rumored to support up to 8 cores while Kaby Lake's support is capped at 4 core. Not much is known about Canonlake but it may make its appearance in later half of 2017, further pushing Surface Pro 5 release should Microsoft decide to introduce Cannonlalke.

An upgraded Windows 10 is another reason why a 2017 release seems likely. Second upgrade to the operating system is expected next year. Referred as Redstone 2, it could become the de-factor OS for all mobile devices. An anniversary update for Windows 10 is expected soon.

If rumors prove true, Surface Pro 5 could be equipped with 16 GB RAM and 4K display.