According to previous reports, Microsoft is working on a Surface Pro 9 2-in-1 device, which is expected to be released within the year, and will be available in both Intel and ARM versions.
Recently, Microsoft’s new 4G and 5G “portable computing device” appeared on the US FCC list C3K1997 and is expected to be the Snapdragon processor-powered Surface Pro 9.
The FCC list contains many references to the device tested in “tablet mode”, showing built-in 5G connectivity, Bluetooth 5, and offering Wi-Fi 6. “The device includes the following features: 850/1900 GSM / GPRS / EDGE, 850/1900 WCDMA / HSPA, Multi-band LTE, Multi-band 5G NR, 802.11b / g / n / ax WLAN, 802.11a / n / ac / ax UNII (5GHz), Bluetooth (1x, EDR, LE).”
In addition, according to this FCC document, the Surface Pro 9 will be equipped with an ARM processor. The document includes a reference to Qualcomm Smart Transmit 3.0, a technology designed to extend 5G coverage and increase uplink speeds.
Zac Bowden from Windows Central, citing his sources within Microsoft, has revealed that Microsoft plans to combine the Surface Pro with Intel processors and the Surface Pro X with ARM processors into one device line.
In addition, Microsoft’s new Surface Pro X has appeared on the Geekbench scoreboard, confirming a Snapdragon 8cx Gen3 processor with 16GB of RAM and a score of 1005 on the single-core and 5574 on the multi-core.
According to tipster Rich ‘Rose Gold’ Woods, the Surface Pro 9 will be powered by the Microsoft SQ3 chip, which the software giant will develop in collaboration with Qualcomm, and it will be customized based on the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. The Microsoft SQ3 chip may have slightly different CPU and GPU clock frequencies, but otherwise, the SoC will have most of the similarities to Qualcomm’s chip.
