Microsoft's simplified Surface lineup puts another device on the chopping block
Microsoft has been quietly killing off a number of Surface devices over the past few years. At first it was the Surface Headphones and Surface Earbuds that started to disappear, then came news of a changed 'hardware portfolio' amid 10,000 job cuts at Microsoft in early 2023. A year later, Microsoft then killed off the Surface Duo and ended production of its innovative Surface Studio 2 all-in-one PC. Now, I'm hearing that another Surface device is on the way out.
Sources familiar with Microsoft's Surface plans tell me that the company stopped production of its Surface Laptop Studio 2 earlier this month. No more units are being produced, and Microsoft is planning to mark the device as end of life in June. I asked Microsoft to comment on the end of life for the Surface Laptop Studio 2, but the company declined to provide a statement.
Microsoft's official Surface resellers, however, were happy to discuss the future of Microsoft's folding laptop. 'Surface Laptop Studio 2 has reached end of manufacturing and availability of supply will be limited and may vary by market going forward,' confirmed one reseller when I queried about a lack of stock. 'Microsoft will continue to support Surface Laptop Studio 2 through driver and firmware updates in accordance with the Surface Driver and Firmware Lifecycle.'
Much like how the Surface Studio reached end of life, there doesn't appear to be a Surface Laptop Studio 3 on the horizon. That's a shame because ever since Microsoft hit the Surface 10-year mark in 2022, I've been wondering whether the company will continue to innovate in the decade ahead and push PC makers to invest in laptop and tablet designs.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Costco's CEO started his career as a forklift driver. Now he's leading a $254 billion giant rising up the Fortune 500
Ron Vachris is the third CEO in Costco's history and a company lifer who is now pushing the wholesale club to higher revenues. During his 40+ years at Costco, Vachris rose from teenage forklift driver to CEO, and helped push the company's revenue up 5% year-over-year in fiscal 2024 to $254 billion. A little more than one year into Ron Vachris' tenure leading Costco, he is already supercharging the company's revenue. At No. 12 on the Fortune 500, Costco stands above notable companies such as Microsoft, Chevron, and Bank of America. The company's full-year revenue of $254 billion jumped 5% from the same time last year, and Vachris was instrumental to the company's success. Vachris began his career as a forklift driver in his teens for Price Club, which Costco merged with in 1993. Only the third CEO in Costco history, he is a true company lifer with more than 40 years of experience at the wholesale club. During that time, he has guided the company in a number of positions including operations chief, merchandising chief, and head of real estate, Fortune previously reported. As chief executive, Vachris was awarded a $12.2 million compensation package, including a base salary of $1.1 million and $10.5 million in stock awards and some perks such as a free executive Costco membership. In the vein of longtime former CEO Jim Sinegal, Vachris likes to take a more hands-off approach to leadership, trusting employees to perform well and even innovate. 'You've got to give people room to try new things,' Vachris previously told Fortune. That approach has paid off with new ideas from outside of the C-suite. For example, employees were the first to suggest the company could repurpose leftover rotisserie chicken for their chicken salads. In the future, Vachris is looking to tackle two areas where the company sees opportunity: international expansion and improving ecommerce and technology. On the company's most recent earnings call in late May, Vachris said Costco recently launched buy-now-pay-later capabilities on its website, and also touted the healthy year-over-year growth of the company's Costco Next program, which lets consumers buy name brands at affordable prices. Costco is also testing a new initiative, first introduced by competitor Sam's Club, that allows customers to scan items and check out easily using their phone. 'Digital and technology are important parts of our future growth, and we are investing to improve the member experience,' Vachris said on the company's third-quarter earnings call. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
Big Tech's indirect emissions jumped 150% in three years amid AI boom, UN report says
Indirect carbon emissions from the operations of four of the leading AI-focused tech companies, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta, rose on average by 150% from 2020-2023, as they had to use more power for energy-demanding data centres, a United Nations report said on Thursday. The use of artificial intelligence is driving up global indirect emissions because of the vast amounts of energy required to power data centers, the report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the U.N. agency for digital technologies, said. Indirect emissions include those generated by purchased electricity, steam, heating and cooling consumed by a company. Amazon's operational carbon emissions grew the most at 182% in 2023 compared to three years before, followed by Microsoft at 155%, Meta at 145% and Alphabet at 138%, according to the report. The ITU tracked the greenhouse gas emissions of 200 leading digital companies between 2020 and 2023. Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, pointed Reuters to its sustainability report that said it is working to reduce emissions, energy and water used to power its data centres. The other companies did not respond immediately to requests for comment. As investment in AI increases, carbon emissions from the top-emitting AI systems are predicted to reach up to 102.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2) per year, the report stated. The data centres that are needed for AI development could also put pressure on existing energy infrastructure. 'The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is driving a sharp rise in global electricity demand, with electricity use by data centres increasing four times faster than the overall rise in electricity consumption,' the report found.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Why Are Tilly's (TLYS) Shares Soaring Today
Shares of young adult apparel retailer Tilly's (NYSE:TLYS) jumped 10.9% in the afternoon session after the company reported impressive first quarter 2025 results and provided optimistic revenue and EPS guidance for the next quarter, which blew past analysts' expectations. Sales weakness improved as the company observed consistent traffic gains. The company was also betting on the seasonally strong Back-to-School Season to drive volume growth, further reinforcing the upbeat guidance despite ongoing store closures. On the other hand, the quarter's revenue, EPS, and EBITDA fell short of Wall Street's estimates. Zooming out, we think this was a mixed yet decent quarter. Is now the time to buy Tilly's? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Tilly's shares are extremely volatile and have had 68 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Tilly's and indicate this news significantly impacted the market's perception of the business. The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 12 months ago when the stock dropped 10.6% on the news that the company reported first quarter earnings. EPS fell below analyst's expectations. While revenue came in narrowly ahead of Wall Street's estimates, top line growth continued to decline in absolute terms. Guidance was also weak as the earnings forecast for the next quarter missed analysts' expectations, disappointing investors. Management struck a not-so-confident tone, adding that it might be "difficult to improve our sales results in the near term." This is partly a result of the macroeconomic challenges experienced during the quarter. Overall, the results could have been better. Tilly's is down 67.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $1.49 per share, it is trading 76.2% below its 52-week high of $6.28 from July 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Tilly's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $233.52. Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
