We have seen rumours of a Surface Mini tablet intensify recently and now it seems like Microsoft has all-but-confirmed that such a device will be officially revealed for the first time on 20th May. Various media outlets have received an invite to an event on that date in New York City.
The 'Surface Event', subtitled 'join us for a small gathering', is expected to be presided over by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The event will start at 11am E.T. which is 4pm in the UK. While the 'small gathering' may be a reference to the size of the event it is most probably the usual pun-tease, as favoured by tech companies for these unveiling events.
Rummaging through the previous rumour pile we think that the Surface Mini will sport a 7.5-inch screen (the sweet spot between 7 and 8-inches you see) which is expected to boast a 4:3 aspect ratio 1,400 x 1,080 pixel resolution.
In October Surface VP Panos Panay confirmed new Surface hardware with both bigger and smaller screens would be released. At a Microsoft Store event at Seattle University Panay said "We have a lot of great things that we are thinking about and working on, and there are multiple aspect ratios and sizes and awesome things to come from Surface".
Our most recent Surface Mini rumour came from an Amazon retailer listing a specially made smartcover for the Microsoft Surface Mini which is pre-orderable now but not available until 18th May - pretty close to this event.
There remains a lot to be discovered about the Surface Mini such as the processor/architecture, the pricing, accessory and stylus plans. Hopefully we will be far more enlightened a fortnight from now, after the 'small gathering' in New York concludes.
