Surface Book's successor will reportedly drop the best thing about its design, but that probably won't happen

We are probably just a few weeks away from the release of Microsoft’s upcoming Surface devices. And now, there’s a very interesting rumor about the device. According to DigiTimes, who are not really that credible (although some of their reports have been accurate in the past), Microsoft might be introducing a lower starting price for the upcoming Surface Book 2. The report claims that the new Surface Book 2’s prices will start at $1,000 which is significantly lower from the original Surface Book that starts at $1,499. Microsoft has even started mass production of the new Surface Book, and Microsoft is reportedly going to launch the new device “at the end of March or April.”

Apparently, Microsoft is also dropping the classic 2-in-1 design of the Surface Book and replacing it with the good old clamshell design. The report mentions that Microsoft is dropping the 2-in-1 design as “the existing Surface Book’s high price level has significantly limited demand.”

That is exactly where the report starts sounding a bit…fishy. Firstly, the 2-in-1 design is literally the best thing about the Surface Book and its USP. The 2-in-1 design is exactly what puts Microsoft’s Surface Book apart from boring devices like the new MacBook Pros or all the other Surface clones that we get to see every now and then. And if Microsoft does indeed drop the 2-in-1 design, they would virtually be competing with devices from their own OEM partners like Dell’s XPS 13 line or Lenovo’s Yoga line.

[shunno-quote align=”right”]Dropping the 2-in-1 design on the Surface Book 2 will be outright stupid[/shunno-quote]

I personally do not think Panos Panay and his team are going to remove the best thing about the Surface Book with its successor — as it will simply be an outright stupid thing to do. It is possible Microsoft is working on a low-end variant of the Surface Book 2 for customers who don’t want the 2-in-1 design — and that variant could likely be the $1,000 variant DigiTimes is talking about.

As with all the rumors, we suggest you take this with a grain of salt. We’ll give it a rumor rating of 2 for now, but we aren’t far away from the real deal at this point.