Microsoft expected to launch the Surface Pro LTE tomorrow at Future Decoded conference

Tomorrow will be Microsoft’s annual two-day Future Decoded conference at the ExCel centre in London.

Microsoft bills it as your essential guide to disruptive technology and how it will impact people and businesses, today and tomorrow.

The event will feature presentations from a number of Microsoft executives, and feature discussions about future technology and applications such as Quantum Computing and HoloLens.

It is, however, Microsoft hardware chief Panos Panay’s  keynote which is expected to draw the most interest.  It is widely expected that Microsoft will officially announce the availability details on the Surface Pro LTE device at this event.

The device has both been widely leaked and officially confirmed, so not much secrets are left except when exactly it will hit the market.

We know for example the the LTE version of Surface Pro will be based on Qualcomm X16 Gigabit Class LTE modem. It will support up to 450 mbps. Microsoft has integrated the modem directly on the motherboard and have optimized the sleep and hibernate states of the device to be more efficient when on LTE. The video playback battery life on a Surface Pro LTE device will be same as that of Surface Pro WiFi model. If you use LTE network exclusively on the Surface Pro device, you will get about 90% battery life of a WiFi model.

The devices will have a massive 7 LTE antennas for great connectivity and unlike your LTE smartphones, there will be a single Surface Pro LTE model for the entire world. So, any 4G LTE network around the world will support Surface Pro LTE.

Mainly intended for enterprise use, the Surface Pro LTE will support e-SIM and enterprise organizations can provision them using MDM.

Misco, an online retailer in the UK has started taking pre-orders for Surface Pro LTE version. Surface Pro LTE with Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD will cost around £1,169.

When comparing the pricing with the non-LTE model, we can notice that Microsoft is charging a £145 premium, which I think is reasonable. In the US, the LTE versions of Surface Pro models might cost $150 more when compared to non-LTE models. 

Misco has also mentioned that Surface Pro LTE will be shipping in December for pre-ordered customers, though as noted earlier Microsoft itself has not confirmed a date yet, except to say the device is certainly on track to hit the market this holiday season.

The Microsoft News Centre will be live blogging the event, and readers can of course keep an eye on the site for the latest news arising from there.