Unlike most other hardware manufacturers, Microsoft doesn’t always follow a clear and predictable release schedule for its popular Surface products, sometimes taking more than a year between generations and occasionally throwing a curveball that makes it even harder to anticipate the upgrade plans of the Redmond-based tech giant.
The business-focused , for instance, caught everyone by surprise last month (including ), going official in lieu of an oft-rumored Surface Pro 8 that many betting men would have expected to come out as early as last fall.