Remember the Surface Duo, which, according to a tweet from Windows Central's Zac Bowden, may only be two months away?

The Surface Duo was first teased at a large Microsoft hardware event in October, where several new Surface products (including the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Neo) were announced in addition to this phone. But the Duo is particularly noteworthy because it is the first Microsoft-branded phone since the Windows Phone era, not to mention the first ever Surface phone.

We don't know everything about the Surface Duo yet, but what we do know is that Microsoft had initially set a vague goal of a Holiday 2020 release for the device. We also know that the Duo is clearly more conventional and foldable than Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Flip.

Rather than a single flexible panel, the Surface Duo resembles classic two-display foldable devices such as the 2017 ZTE Axon M or one of LG's recent dual-screen case-equipped flagships like the LG V60 ThinQ 5G

Surface Duo uses a pair of 5.6-inch displays joined by a 360-degree hinge. Furthermore, because these panels can rotate in either direction, the Duo requires only one camera lens; Windows Central reports that the sensor behind that one lens has 11 megapixels, and the optics themselves feature an ƒ/2.0 aperture

However, the camera's lens is not reportedly a ƒ/2.0 aperture.

But it probably won't be a 5G phone. When Microsoft first unveiled the Surface Duo, the prototype used the Snapdragon 855 chipset, and the final model is expected to be similar; the Snapdragon 855 is usually paired with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 865 chip It does not include a 5G modem, which is usually included with the Surface Duo, so Surface Duo owners will likely be limited to LTE-class downloads.

However, for users hoping to use the Surface Duo for a few years, say, in 2022, it may start to feel quite old.

Its 855 processor will be supported by 6GB of RAM, which happens to be the same CPU and memory combination you can find in Google's Pixel 4. Also, being a dual-screen phone, we can expect advanced multitasking software features unique to the Surface Duo. Microsoft says it worked closely with Google to optimize Android for the Duo's unique hardware, adding features like the peek notification feature shown above, but we won't see all the fruits of that labor until the final Duo is demonstrated in more detail Id.

There are a lot of big questions surrounding the Surface Duo, but one of the more interesting questions is how the device will look next to the ostensibly more futuristic foldable terminal and its bendable screen. the 360-degree hinge will undoubtedly make the Duo more versatile, and the two-panel design will also make it more versatile. use, and the physical seam between the two panels might make multitasking a bit more natural.

However, two-screen phones have been done many times before with little commercial success, and at this point we can only conclude that consumers are simply not interested. In addition, we can't ignore that however interesting a phone like the Surface Duo might have looked five years ago, today it can't help but feel dated, especially with that chunky top and bottom bezel.

Still, we can't wait to get our hands on the Surface Duo. And from the sounds of it, we may not have to wait long to get our hands on it.