Microsoft just teased its next major event but gave little clue as to what the company is set to reveal.
The event is scheduled for October 12, 2022, at 10 AM ET. Beyond that, there is very little else in the way of details, and we've reached out to Microsoft for some clarification about what the event is set to showcase. We'll update this story with any news if and when we hear back from the company.
In the meantime, we can ruthlessly speculate about what Microsoft has in store, and we even have some clues in the announcement image itself.
The image is a stylized version of the Windows 11 desktop background, so it's safe to say it's likely something Windows related. And since the image has a decidedly impressionistic vibe to it, we'd say it's going to be a new Microsoft Surface device, possibly an update to the Microsoft Surface Studio line, either a new desktop or a refresh of the Surface Laptop Studio.
That latter device is only about a year old though, so it's likely too soon to see a major refresh of the device, but something along those lines is definitely possible.
What else might we see at Microsoft's October event?
Microsoft usually doesn't do a whole lot of events (unlike Apple), but when they do, they do try to squeeze in as much as they can, so if we are going to see a new Surface device, it isn't likely to show up by itself.
One thing, in particular, we expect to see is another Accessibility-focused product, like last year's Surface Adaptive Kit and this year's Adaptive Accessories. We anticipate that we'll see more along these lines at the October event, and we're glad to see it. For all of Microsoft's faults, and all big tech companies have them, Microsoft is far and away the best tech brand for accessibility out there.
Other than that, we could see some other peripheral improvements to things like the Surface Pen, HoloLens, and more. Given the emerging "post-pandemic" professional environment, we can't rule out a complete refresh of the Surface lineup either, given that many products are in varying degrees in need of a touch-up with new hardware and other various improvements.
We also can't sleep on Windows 11 on ARM, either. Microsoft has been plugging away at its own silicon, similar to what Apple has done with its M-series chips, and while we highly doubt Microsoft is going to introduce its own ARM processors, it's something that has been bubbling up in the background on a slow boil for a while now.
That last bit has very long odds at this point, but if Microsoft is going to commit to Windows on ARM, something like this is going to have to be announced eventually. Whether this is that time remains to be seen, but it'd be an interesting twist, to say the least.
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