The Microsoft Surface Pro 4, released last fall, should be considered a hit for the company, giving Apple's iPad some serious competition for holiday sales. With a product this successful, it will be a tough act for Microsoft to follow, so how will the Surface Pro 5 rate as a follow-up? There isn't much information on the Surface Pro 5, but from what it sounds like, the biggest improvements for the Surface Pro 5 will come from the Surface Pen and possibly the size when it shows up for its release date.
Phone Arena reveals the a new patent filing could reveal an advancement with the Surface Pen with the battery and the dock. The current version of the Surface Pen runs on AAAA batteries, as this can last about few months or even a year. However, doesn't it make more sense to have the pen be rechargeable?
It looks like this is what Microsoft is doing, as their new patent for a stylus charger "may take the form of a dock that holds the stylus in a particular location during charging and/or while the stylus is not being used". This dock would hold that Surface Pen magnetically, and then be charging it. Think of it as one of those wireless Qi chargers that a lot of newer smartphones are set up for but the charging pad is part of the tablet/computer itself.
Now, why can't the Surface Pen just be inserted within the 2-in-one tablet? Microsoft has stated that the pen is thicker than the tablet itself. Considering the pressure that many companies have to make their devices thinner, it doesn't seem likely that a thicker Surface Pro 5 is in the cards, so you can stick the stylus in like the Galaxy Note series. It also doesn't seem probable that Microsoft will borrow a page from Apple's playbook and have their version of the Pencil stick out the side of their version of the Surface Pro's charging dock.
As we have stated before, there hasn't been that much heard about what the Surface Pro 5 will be about, other than the improvements to the pen. At this point, this is the only feature of the Surface Pro 4 that is in need of improvement, and it is possible that the Surface Pro 5 could go bigger.
The current screen of the Surface Pro 4 measures in at 12.3 inches on the diagonal, but to those that were raised with a laptop of 13, 15, or 17 inches, this might not be enough. It is possible that Microsoft could steal from the Apple playbook after all and go with a "Plus" sized model.
At this point, the idea of a tablet being smaller than a laptop seems rather needless, as the Surface Pro has the 2-in-1 capability and can do a whole lot, particularly with its keyboard. At this point, I'm going to say that Fall 2016 will be the release date for the Surface Pro 5. This is one year after the Surface Pro 4, and the biggest improvements will be the Surface Pen, and possibly available in different sizes. Also, there are rumors of a Surface Phone.
