A tweet by Microsoft Surface chief Panos Panay reignites rumours the company is working on a "new and disruptive" device-- one, according to the The Verge, is a "folding, dual-display device" produced in collaboration with LG Display.
The idea of a Microsoft dual-screen device has been around for years. In 2010, a group of Microsoft engineers lead by then Xbox lead J Allard pushed the Courier, a Windows-based dual-screen tablet complete with stylus one could fold and carry around like a notebook. The Courier was killed off (reportedly because it failed to align with the Windows and Office franchises), but the concept persisted within Microsoft.
Fast forward to 2018. Dubbed "Andromeda" according to French tech news site Numerama, the device is, essentially, a pocket Surface. If the patents collected by The Verge are to be believed, the foldable tablet has a wraparound ddisplay bridging the gap of the hinge when fully open. No further details are available, other than Microsoft is viewing Andromeda as a followup to the failure that was Windows Phone.
So, will Andromeda actually hit the market? Unnamed sources warn Microsoft can pull the plug on the Andromeda experiment "at any moment," which would hardly be a first-- in an October 2015 interview with Wired, Panay admitted the existence of the Surface Mini, a small "awesome" tablet that was canceled just weeks before launch.
Go Microsoft Details Secret "Pocketable" Surface Device in Leaked Email (The Verge)
Go Andromeda: Microsoft's Incredible Projecto to Revolutionise the Smartphone (Numerama)
