Surface 3 (4G LTE) is coming!

I’ve been so excited to see the reception so far of Surface 3, and especially the reception from students. Surface 3 was designed to offer what customers loved about Surface Pro 3 in a more affordable, more compact package – the premium design and materials, the ability to use the Surface Pen, and all the capability that comes from running full Windows. Today I want to share some more detail about our mobile broadband offering – Surface 3 (4G LTE). The ability to stay connected wherever you roam (assuming a mobile broadband signal – thank you lawyers) is a powerful addition to a device that is already incredibly versatile.

The first Surface 3 (4G LTE) devices went on sale in Japan two weeks ago through Y!Mobile. We’re happy to announce Surface 3 (4G LTE) will become available to business customers through the first partner operators on July 3^rd in Germany and the United Kingdom, and later, in France and Spain. These will include Deutsche Telekom in Germany, Orange Business Services in France, as well as O2 in the United Kingdom and Movistar in Spain – both members of the Telefónica Company.

Following availability to business customers in these markets, we’re also looking forward to offering Surface 3 (4G LTE) at retail and through commercial resellers in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States in the coming weeks.

We see particular excitement for our LTE-enabled Surface 3 with businesses and their sales forces, which is why this initial announcement is focused on business availability. We’re already hearing from customers that have deployed Surface Pro 3 that sellers are saving hours per week in many cases. Having a more mobile option in Surface 3 (4G LTE) is only going to create more opportunities. Based largely on input from our customers, we’ll offer two configurations specifically to business customers: 64GB and 128GB configurations, both with 4GB of RAM and both running Windows 8.1 Professional, with the ability to upgrade for free to Windows 10 when available.

Surface 3 is the thinnest and lightest Surface we’ve ever built. It goes from being a tablet to a laptop to a docked desktop without missing a beat. The addition of mobile broadband capability will make it uniquely capable among tablets to help you get more done wherever you are. I’ll note as well that this is just the first announcement of availability for the Surface 3 (4G LTE). There will be more to follow as we work to bring Surface 3 (4G LTE) to additional markets.

Brian Hall

General Manager – Microsoft Surface