Microsoft’s Surface Duo Left Out Without Updates

Microsoft may have abandoned its dual-screen smartphones after updating to Android 12L, contrary to all claims. The software for the current Microsoft Surface Duo is said to be no longer being developed.

As the colleagues from Windows Central report, Microsoft has apparently given up its smartphones with the two screens connected by a hinge. After the last major update to Android 12L in October 2022, there is apparently no further development of the software for the hybrid smartphone with a double display.

Nothing has changed since the upgrade to Android 12L

Although many new features were introduced with the update to Android 12L, the release was also characterized by numerous bugs that have still not been fixed to this day. Since the update, Microsoft has only made one bug fix, even though the security updates for the Android operating system have been made available again and again.

Recently, however, even the provision of security updates for Android 12L on the Surface Duo has stalled, because the update for April is still pending, after which it was usually delivered quite punctually. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s own software teams are apparently no longer developing their apps for the Surface Duo. The SwiftKey keyboard app recently received an update to integrate the AI-powered Bing chatbot on all other devices – just not on the Surface Duo.

Microsoft declined to comment on the issue when asked by Windows Central colleagues. There was also no news about the work on Android 13 for the Surface Duo and the company did not want to give any new information on this. The background to the “dead silence” surrounding the Surface Duo and its software is apparently the recent layoffs at the software manufacturer.

The team previously responsible for the software for the Surface Duo is now working on other products that are not specifically tailored to foldable smartphones. There have already been rumors that Microsoft is working on a Surface Duo 3, which will switch to a full-surface foldable display. How things are going with this project is also still open.