When the Surface Duo was first announced, the release date was set for Holiday 2020. We had already heard that Microsoft was planning to launch earlier than expected to beat out Samsung's Galaxy Fold 2, but now we have clear evidence that a launch is imminent.

As Windows Central's Zac Bowden discovered, Microsoft's Your Phone app has assets for the Surface Duo.

In a reply to this tweet, Bowden adds that the cutout on the right is a fingerprint reader and reaffirms that he has heard that the device will be available in the next couple of months, i.e. July or August.

Your Phone, for those who don't know, is a Windows 10 app that allows Android and iOS devices to work well with PCs. With this app, you can recreate many of your phone's functions on your PC, from text messaging to making and receiving phone calls. While I personally may not use it, if the company's desktop OS and its first smartphone since the Lumia 650 in 2016 don't work together smoothly, that would be pretty bad for Microsoft.

Bowden himself had already revealed the Surface Duo's key specifications. It will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 CPU with 6GB RAM and 64GB or 256GB of storage; the two screens will each have a resolution of 1,800 x 1,350 and a 3,560mAh battery.

In other words, the Galaxy Fold 2 is likely to be significantly faster in terms of bare-bones specs, but it is already known that Samsung wants to price the foldable at the "optimistic" end of the market. We expect this to be an opportunity for Microsoft to beat the competition both in terms of price and release date.

Of course, Microsoft's strategy of trying to get out of the gate ahead of Samsung is not without risk. Especially given Microsoft's lack of recent smartphone experience and the remote working conditions enforced by the coronavirus.

The dual-screen experience is fairly new and is something that could be a success or failure depending on the user experience. If the software seems too rushed or buggy, the idea may disappear before it becomes widespread. If the rumors of an impending release are indeed correct, one has to believe that Microsoft knows what they are doing.