Microsoft Cancels Surface Hub 2X Upgrade Cartridge

Back in April last year, Microsoft unveiled its bigger, better Surface Hub 2S.

Since then, we've been waiting for the promised upgrade cartridge to appear, but the cartridge has been canceled.

The Surface Hub 2S is Microsoft's answer to a collaborative touch-screen device for enterprise users, with 50-inch and (eventually) 85-inch models available.

The 2S is powered by an 8th-gen Core i5 processor, but when it was first announced Microsoft also detailed a Surface Hub 2X upgrade cartridge.

It would contain a more powerful processor and GPU, allowing for screen rotation and up to four 2S displays to work together (tiling).

The cartridge was expected to go on sale this year.

"may or may not"

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d)

As The Verge reports, the leaked webinar for Surface Hub sellers you can watch in the tweet above confirms the upgrade cartridge has been canceled.

However, it's actually for a good reason.

Microsoft believes it can probably get the rotation and tiling features working on the Hub 2S without requiring customers to purchase what it refers to as a "compute cartridge."

The 8th-gen Core i5 processor is a very capable chip even today, so it seems as though Microsoft may have found a number of software efficiency gains to enable the new features using the older chip.

In fact, both Surface Hub v1 and 2S owners can expect a "major software update" including a number of "more IT-friendly integration, deployment, and manageability features." However, the rotation and tiling aren't mentioned as part of the update.

The free software update will be launched at some point this year.

As far as I can tell, the 2X cartridge is now never going to appear, which to me suggests the Microsoft hardware team can fully-focus on the inevitable Surface Hub 3.

Back in April last year, Microsoft unveiled its bigger, better Surface Hub 2S.

Since then, we've been waiting for the promised upgrade cartridge to appear, but the cartridge has been canceled.

The Surface Hub 2S is Microsoft's answer to a collaborative touch-screen device for enterprise users, with 50-inch and (eventually) 85-inch models available.

The 2S is powered by an 8th-gen Core i5 processor, but when it was first announced Microsoft also detailed a Surface Hub 2X upgrade cartridge.

It would contain a more powerful processor and GPU, allowing for screen rotation and up to four 2S displays to work together (tiling).

The cartridge was expected to go on sale this year.

"may or may not"

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d)

As The Verge reports, the leaked webinar for Surface Hub sellers you can watch in the tweet above confirms the upgrade cartridge has been canceled.

However, it's actually for a good reason.

Microsoft believes it can probably get the rotation and tiling features working on the Hub 2S without requiring customers to purchase what it refers to as a "compute cartridge."

The 8th-gen Core i5 processor is a very capable chip even today, so it seems as though Microsoft may have found a number of software efficiency gains to enable the new features using the older chip.

In fact, both Surface Hub v1 and 2S owners can expect a "major software update" including a number of "more IT-friendly integration, deployment, and manageability features." However, the rotation and tiling aren't mentioned as part of the update.

The free software update will be launched at some point this year.

As far as I can tell, the 2X cartridge is now never going to appear, which to me suggests the Microsoft hardware team can fully-focus on the inevitable Surface Hub 3.