Microsoft may have struggled with its Surface tablet in the early days of its existence, but news from the computer giant on Thursday suggests subsequent redesigns and new models have finally helped to create something that consumers actually want to buy.
According to figures released for its most recent quarter, sales of Surface devices have jumped by a notable 38 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Putting that in dollar terms, the Surface Book, Surface Pro 4, and Surface 3 tablets pulled in $926 million in revenue over the three-month period ending September 30, up from $672 million a year ago, with the Book and Pro 4 selling particularly well among its trio of offerings.
The latest Surface devices have been attracting increasing attention from enterprise users, though not all such customers have been happy with the results. Despite sales of its own tablet devices slowing, Apple, too, has been doing better in the business sector, with its high-end Pro devices reported to be performing particularly well.
Surface
Released last year, the Surface Pro 4 is, as its name suggests, the fourth iteration of the Pro tablet that originally launched in 2013. The Book, on the other hand, is a 2-in-1 laptop/tablet hybrid that launched in 2015 to mostly positive reviews. DT, for one, praised its versatile form factor, gorgeous display, and impressive all-round performance.
Noticing patrons of #Starbucks sitting with more @Microsoft @Surface devices than @Apple @Macbook‘s these days. A trend? #macbook #Surface pic.twitter.com/rY72nkQ4bf
— Val Katayev (@ValKatayev) October 21, 2016
The news of Microsoft’s strong Surface showing comes just days before a special event in New York City where some believe it could unveil an all-in-one Surface desktop to challenge the likes of Apple’s iMac. All will be revealed on October 26.
Microsoft’s overall figures for its latest quarter showed revenue of $22.3 billion, beating Wall Street expectations of $21.7 billion. Its cloud computing business saw particularly strong growth, with sales of its Azure service more than doubling.
The company has been investing heavily to expand its cloud computing business, building data centers around the world as it seeks to take on Amazon Web Services, its biggest rival in the sector.
