Microsoft will stop manufacturing Surface 2 tablets. The company will fully focus on the Surface Pro 3. The end of the Surface 2 is another sign of the end of Windows RT, the Windows version specifically developed for ARM chips.
Microsoft has confirmed to technology website The Verge that it will discontinue the Surface 2, including the Surface 2 Pro. Customers that are in the market for a Surface 2 device will have to find a store that still has them in stock, or buy them directly from Microsoft on microsoftstore.com.
The move doesn't come as surprise, Microsoft announced during its quarterly reports that the Surface Pro 3 sells three times better than the Surface Pro 2. Also accessories of the Surface Pro 3 sell better.
The end of the Surface 2 serie, which hit the market in 2013, also marks the end of Microsoft hardware running Windows RT. This Windows version was developed for ARM hardware and regular Windows software didn't run on the RT platform. The operating system never became popular, developers didn't make applications because there weren't many users and users weren't really interested due to the lack of interesting software.
Current Windows RT devices will also not be updated to Windows 10, although Microsoft has stated it will release an update for the Surface 2 that contains many of the functionality of Windows 10.
