Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering? The Surface Duo 2 may not have been a bona fide hit for Microsoft when it comes to sales numbers, but the foldable dual-screen device is definitely a hit with the community.
Developers and enthusiasts that possess the necessary skills, desire, and determination (not to mention spare time) to experiment with their handsets continue to do so. They have access to the source code of the operating system that powers the Android device from Microsoft.
It is access to this information that makes it possible for these folks to create zany projects like the one where they managed to run Windows 11 on the original Surface Duo.
And sometimes, uncover curious little tidbits about these devices.
This is very much what happened just now, where Gustave Monce dug around in the kernel source code of the Surface Duo 2 and found something curious. He discovered that Microsoft, at some point, considered a WiFi only variant of its second-generation dual-screen smartphone.
Redmond has never acknowledged the existence of a Surface Duo 2 sans cellular access, so the fate of a variant like this, and its purpose, remains under cloud.
Perhaps, the idea was to create a cheaper Surface Duo that would server as a companion device for those entrenched in the Windows ecosystem. Maybe something akin to a scaled down Surface Neo that was powered by Android instead of Windows 10X.
Because, after all, this is a smartphone at the end of the day, and removing network connectivity in this fashion makes little to no sense.
We do know for sure that Microsoft experimented with a midrange Surface Duo 2.
This cheaper model was eventually scrapped for a fully stacked one that is currently available for purchase for $999 after a massive $500 discount.
