Microsoft confirms that Windows 10X will hit single-screen laptops first

Microsoft’s hardware chief Panos Panay confirms via the official company blog what has been suspected for months. Windows 10X will only be available this year for devices with a single screen. This also indirectly confirms that the Surface Neo and similar devices will no longer be finished this year.

Windows 10X is Microsoft’s operating system for devices with multiple screens or those that can be folded. With the Surface Neo, Microsoft uses a dual-screen solution with a hinge instead of a continuous, flexible display. The Surface Neo, together with the Surface Duo, which is based on Android and is still to be launched this year, marked the end of last year’s Surface event where new tablets and laptops were presented. It offers two 9 inches that fold up to 13 inches. The Surface Neo should be based on Windows 10X for the holiday season at the end of the year. Now Microsoft wants to find a new date for the Surface Neo.

Windows 10X will hit single-screen laptops first

Panay presents the setback in the development of Windows 10X and associated devices on the company blog as an opportunity for change. The operating system was developed at the start for flexibility and this flexibility now allows Microsoft to focus on devices with only one screen. The first Windows 10X devices will use the power of the cloud and create new opportunities for working, learning and playing.

These single-screen devices are only a first expression of Win 10X. Microsoft will continue to look for the right time to bring devices with Windows 10X to the market with two screens in partnership with OEMs. Panay did not, however, call a new date for this.

Since March of this year, Windows 10 has an install base of more than a billion computers worldwide. According to Panay, user behavior has changed dramatically over the past few weeks. This is especially the use of cloud-based applications has increased significantly in the corona crisis. Windows 10 billion users are using Windows for 4 trillion minutes per month. That’s an increase of 75 percent over the previous year.