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Next generation Surface RT tablet variant could be powered by Snapdragon chip: Report

Next generation Surface RT tablet variant could be powered by Snapdragon chip: Report

By Anupam Saxena | Updated: 19 June 2013 16:30 IST

Microsoft could use Qualcomm chips for the next iteration of its Surface RT tablet, if a new report is to be believed.

According to Bloomberg, some new versions of the Surface tablet will be based on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. It cites people aware of the company's plans to report that the company will continue to use Nvidia Tegra ARM chips in some variants of the tablet. It's worth pointing out that the current generation Surface RT tablet is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU part of the Nvidia Tegra 3 System on Chip.

The report points out that by using Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, Microsoft will be able to offer high speed 4G LTE Internet access capability on the Surface RT tablet.

Microsoft launched the Surface RT tablet, last October along with Windows 8. The tablet sports a 10.6-inch display and is available in 32GB and 64GB internal storage variants. The tablet runs Windows RT a variant of Windows designed for ARM processors. However, due to the different architecture of the processor, the OS is not capable of running legacy Windows applications and can only run apps available in the Windows Store and the ones that are pre-bundled.

The company bundles Word, Excel and PowerPoint, on the Surface RT tablet and has announced that it will add its popular Outlook email program to it as part of a free software update in 2013.

Microsoft also offers a Pro version of the Surface with Windows 8, powered by Intel core i5 processor.

Microsoft has not got much success with its Surface tablet with the company being able to sell little more than a million Surface RT tablets and 400,000 Surface Pro tablets as per another Bloomberg report. So, Microsoft would perhaps be looking to increase the tablet's appeal by adding 4G, in a market dominated by Apple and Google.

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