Microsoft's newest 2018 hardware strategy will focus on always connected devices and Cortana

A new report from Thurrott lays out the kind of hardware Microsoft will be expecting its OEMs to focus in 2018.

• Modern premium. – This will be premium hardware like the Surface Book 2 and Dell XPS 13 which compete with Apple’s MacBook Pro.
• Modern mainstream. – Devices like the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop which compete with iPad Pro, MacBook and Pixelbook among others.
• Modern entry. This will comprise of notebooks like Acer’s Swift 1 which compete with entry-level and mid-range Chromebooks
• Gaming and Mixed Reality.
• Always Connected PCs. The new style of PCs Microsoft introduced last year.
• Cortana-based devices.

While much of this could be expected, Microsoft will also be focusing on Always Connected PCs and Cortana based devices. Two initiatives Microsoft has been pushing since 2016.

With Always Connected PCs, Windows users will be able to use devices like mobile devices and work on the go, never having to go off the grid so to speak.

These devices will work with both Intel and Qualcomm processors

While Microsoft has been criticised for not showing any particular urgency with Cortana, especially as competitors from Google and Alexa lap it in the marketplace. This report seems to indicate that the firm will be doing a lot more with Cortana later on this year, and work with OEMs to push out more smart devices.

Of course,  its safe to say that with Cortana what Microsoft wants to happen, and what actually happens are two different things entirely.We’ll see how this plays out over the year.