Spend a penny for the Surface Duo 2. As Windows Central reports, Microsoft has almost certainly released the final software update for the device, a security patch, before its October 21 end-of-support date.
When Microsoft launched the Surface Duo 2 in October 2021, the company promised three years of software updates for the dual-screen device. Since then, the company has released just one platform update for the Duo 2, which upgrades it from Android 11 to Android 12L.
In comparison, Surface Duo users were luckier. They got to see their devices change from Android 10 to Android 11 and then later to Android 12L. I’ll note here that the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system is Android 15.
By modern standards, the Duo 2’s performance is particularly poor. Some Android manufacturers, including Google and Samsung, now promise to provide up to seven generations of platform updates.
Consider, too, that Microsoft priced the Surface Duo 2 at $1,500 at release. More than that, this is a shame because software has always been the Duo line’s weakness. As Engagement deputy editor Cherlynn Low pointed out in her 2021 review of the device, the device offered more attractive hardware but still suffered from an inconsistent user experience.
Of course, if you’ve been following Microsoft in recent months, all of this isn’t surprising. As the company has shifted its focus to AI, its Surface portfolio has fallen to the wayside. In fact, according to a Business Insider report published last year, one of the reasons Panos Panay left Microsoft was because the company canceled some of his unit’s more ambitious projects.