New Microsoft Surface Offering Leaked? Snapdragon 845 to Power the Device

By Janna Dela Cruz, Christian Post Contributor Sunday, December 03, 2017

Microsoft seems to be working on a brand-new Surface-branded offering, if the latest reports are anything to go by.

What got media outlets considering the possibility is a job listing for a Hardware Test Engineer and Manufacturing Engineer posted by the Redmond giant. The preferred candidate is expected to have experience with Wi-Fi and radio-style data connections.

The chosen aspirant will be based on Microsoft's Redmond 85 building, which Tech Radar points out, is where much of the work involving the Surface brand is being done.

The preferred candidate must also be willing to travel to China regularly to work with the manufacturers. As The Verge reminds, the company employs a Pegatron plant in the country for its Surface and Xbox devices.

Putting these clues together, media outlets are convinced that Microsoft is making a brand new Surface device. What it will actually be remains to be seen, but the job listing provided some intriguing clues.

The listing indicates that the next Microsoft Surface device could powered by ARM and that under the hood would be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845.

This is because Microsoft wants their engineer to complete tests for the next-generation chipset, which is expected to be made official in the coming days at Qualcomm's second annual Snapdragon Technology Summit.

Speculations have it that the Surface device in question could be a Courier-type tablet although there is no reason not to believe it could end up being a new tablet or even a smartphone.

After all, Microsoft has not been shy about its Windows on ARM efforts and there have been rumors about ARM making its way to the still-mythical Surface Phone, which is rumored to see the light of day sometime next year, if the tech giant plans to actually bring it out into the world.

For now, however, nothing is official yet. Perhaps details about the Microsoft Surface device could be revealed at the Qualcomm event happening Dec. 4 to 8 in Hawaii.