Surface Duo – It’s Dead, Jim…

I predicted back in July that the end was nigh for the Surface Duo line of devices made by Microsoft. I think we can now categorically state that the plug has been pulled and it is well and truly dead.

The reason being that Panos Panay has announced that he is leaving Microsoft after 19 years at the company. Panay was the power behind the Surface line of products, and the Surface Duo was his baby.

The timing of the announcement is also interesting – coming as it does just three days before Microsoft’s annual Surface event where new products are announced. It seems almost inevitable that a Surface Duo 3 will not be in that lineup.

Panay himself will also not be at the event. Perhaps he didn’t want the embarrassment. I remember the strained performance of Steven Sinofsky, the champion of Windows 8, at its introduction event. He left the company very soon afterwards which led to the question of did he fall or was he pushed…