What to expect from Microsoft's big event on Wednesday
Did you think we were done with tech events and you could just cruise on until Black Friday and the holidays? You wish!
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, Microsoft is holding a big product announcement in New York City. Ahead of the big day, here's the cornucopia of hardware and software spanning new Surface devices, Windows 10, Hololens and maybe Xbox that we're expecting to hear about.
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Looking back, Microsoft really delivered big time last year. Mostly a hardware showcase, CEO Satya Nadella and co. announced the Surface Pro 4, Microsoft Band 2, Lumia 950 and 950 XL Windows 10 Mobile phones, and the surprise Surface Book.
We're hearing things will be very different this year, which could be troubling.
Surface
Image: jhila farzaneh/mashable
With revenue from the Surface devices reaching $926 million in the first quarter for fiscal 2017, one would only naturally expect Microsoft to double down on more Surface devices.
Will we see a Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2? Surprisingly, there have been zero leaks on hardware, which could suggest there may not be any refreshes coming by the end of the year.
The long-rumored Surface Phone and Surface Mini could always be surprise announcements, but with Windows 10 Mobile and Microsoft's phone business basically in the toilet and the general tablet gold rush over, they seem unlikely to make any kind of appearance.
But if there's no new Surface mobile computers, what then? Digital digging from Brian Conroy of The Trademark Ninja suggests Microsoft could have something up its sleeve called the Surface Studio. Might it have something to do with that rumored all-in-one Surface PC we've heard murmurs about? Maybe.
HoloLens
Image: mashable
Beyond Surface, Microsoft also has HoloLens, its augmented reality headset that aims to bring real-world holograms to life.
Announced last year, HoloLens launched this year as a development kit to developers at a hefty $3,000 price.
At the company's BUILD developer conference, Microsoft showed off some new applications like a Mars experience made in collaboration with NASA.
Though we still don't know how much HoloLens will cost for consumers and when it'll be released, there have been rumors that other companies like Asus are reportedly working on their own HoloLens headsets that will be less expensive. It's possible the event will show off third-party HoloLens headsets.
Windows 10
Image: miles goscha/mashable
The company made it very clear it doesn't see Windows 10 as an operating system anymore, but rather of a "service."
Instead of being updated every handful of years, major updates every year will keep it fresh and competitive.
Microsoft rolled out Windows 10 Anniversary this past summer. Mashable Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff called the update a "no brainer install" in his review.
There's little info on what Microsoft has planned for Windows 10, but some things we can probably expect are updates to Cortana and the Edge browser.
Xbox
Image: screenshot: xbox
Microsoft's planning to release a new performance-crushing, 4K-ready Xbox codenamed "Project Scorpio" next year.
With Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro coming out next month, Microsoft could be looking to steal some thunder away from Sony.
The only thing we know about Scorpio is that it'll come with an eight-core processor and throw around six teraflops of graphics processing power. Xbox One games will be backwards compatible with the system and the console will work with virtual reality headsets (and HoloLens most likely).
On the other hand, we may hear nothing about Scorpio at all. The fall event is not usually a gaming-oriented one; Microsoft will probably save more details for E3 next year.
