Scratching the Surface: Microsoft adds new ‘Book’ to hybrid genre it helped popularise to offset ailing PC sales
New lightweight Surface Book serves as high-performance touch screen device, but will it tempt consumers to ditch their laptops?
US software giant Microsoft is trying to perk up sales in the shrinking personal computer market with its new high-end laptop-tablet hybrid, the Surface Book.
It is the highest-spec model of the Surface series of products, which earned Microsoft revenue of US$3.6 billion last year, according to the company’s annual report.
Analysts say the US company has helped popularise a new product category of hybrid computers that will help the PC market to gain momentum.
“Hybrids have become a trend and many big players are joining in,” said Alex Ng, an analyst from China Merchant Securities Hong Kong.
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Other PC manufacturers such as South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Lenovo have also released similar products recently.
“Nowadays most people already own a laptop and they are not likely to replace them often,” Ng said. “The thin and powerful Surface devices provide them with a reason to update their computers.”