The Microsoft Surface Pro 8 was expected to launch around October 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic seems to have shaken up the release sequence for Microsoft's Surface devices.

However, according to WindowsLatest sources familiar with Microsoft's Surface development, the Surface Pro 8 is still on the way, but may have to wait until next fall.

Microsoft seemed to be focused on launching the Xbox Series X last fall, and the Surface Duo was the Surface device that dominated the headlines last year. And combined with the hardware supply chain disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, it is no big surprise that the Surface Pro 8 did not debut in 2020.

But we would have expected it to appear sometime in early 2021, perhaps in the spring. But instead, Microsoft announced the business-oriented Surface Pro 7+, which is essentially a Surface Pro 7 but with the latest Intel Tiger Lake chip.

This refresh gave the Surface Pro 7 a reasonable increase in processor power and integrated graphics performance. However, it was hardly a major upgrade, let alone a refresh of the Surface Pro design.

"With the Surface Pro 8, we expect a refined design; we hope the narrow bezels and sleek aesthetics of the Surface Pro X will be retained, but that the chassis will have room for a more powerful Intel processor.

If the Surface Pro 8 is launched in the next eight months or so, it is expected to be powered by Intel's next-generation Alder Lake CPU for notebooks. The Surface Pro 8 could also feature improved RAM and storage specs, with up to 32 GB of RAM and 2 TB of SSD space.

Interestingly, a WindowsLatest report notes that the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is also likely to be delayed, but will be available around April. We expect the Surface Laptop 3 to be a refreshed and hopefully improved version.

With Apple raising the bar with the MacBook Air with M1 and the latest iPad Air, Microsoft will need to pull out something special in the next wave of Surface devices.