Surface Pro LTE Release Date News: Microsoft to Release LTE-Enabled 2-in-1s in Early December
Microsoft's first LTE-powered 2-in-1 tablet based on its newest Surface Pro model has gotten its release date, and it will start shipping in early December.
Following an event in London called the Future Decoded where the company "talked to business and IT leaders about the role technology can play in transforming organizations," Microsoft's Panos Panay finally announced that the Surface Pro LTE units will be released on Dec. 1.
In the same statement, it was apparent that Microsoft designed the Surface Pro LTE for business enterprises. "Half of the global workforce will be mobile by 2020. The office is no longer restricted to a set of buildings – it's at home, in a café, a city across the globe, or on a plane," the company added.
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Officially, the upcoming 2-in-1 will be called the Surface Pro with LTE Advanced. It will run with an Intel Core i5 processor and a Cat 9 modem that is expected to operate with 450 MB per second download speed.
For comparison's sake, Microsoft emphasized that most laptops and 2-in-1s with LTE that are currently available in the market are equipped with a Cat 6 modem that promises 300 MB per second download speed.
The Surface Pro with LTE Advanced 2-in-1 is also built with "global connectivity with support of 20 cellular bands" but note that the network performance always depends on the service provider.
In terms of battery life, Microsoft claimed that their upcoming LTE-enabled 2-in-1 can last up to 17 hours of video playback. However, it is hard to tell for now if the same duration applies when the 2-in-1 is used with its LTE features enabled since this feature can be really battery-consuming even on other devices.
Aside from the Core i5 chip, the Surface Pro with LTE Advanced model will have 4 GB RAM and an 128 GB SSD storage. It will cost $1,149.
