Microsoft is giving its compact Surface Pro 12-inch a performance boost, but the more interesting addition is a new AI-powered feature designed around the Surface Slim Pen.
The new Surface Pro 12-inch runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Plus, with Microsoft claiming up to 17% faster Office performance, 60% faster graphics and 95% faster on-device AI compared with previous generations. Battery efficiency is also up by as much as 18%, while the fanless design keeps the same lightweight approach.
The biggest new feature is Microsoft Ink Canvas, a pen-first workspace for sketching, annotating, generating images and summarising text directly on the canvas. The idea is to let you get rough thoughts down with the Slim Pen before turning them into something more polished. Microsoft says Copilot can use the visual and handwritten input as additional context, helping turn those early ideas into useful creations.
Ink Canvas comes pre-installed on the new Surface Pro 12-inch and will also be available through the Microsoft Store for other supported Surface and Windows devices from October 13.
The Pro itself gets a few hardware changes, too. Its PixelSense touchscreen is now 25% brighter at 500 nits, while a new Black finish joins the range. The enclosure uses 86% recycled content, and Microsoft says the Snapdragon X2 Plus also adds an extra hour of active web browsing.
The 12-inch model remains a 2-in-1, so you can attach the Surface Pro 12-inch Keyboard when you need a more traditional laptop setup or use the Slim Pen for drawing, notes and annotations. There’s also an optional 5G configuration for business customers, although the source doesn’t say whether this will be offered to general consumers.
The new Surface Pro 12-inch starts at $1149.99, with availability beginning October 13 in select markets. UK pricing is yet to be confirmed.
Microsoft is also launching a refreshed Surface Laptop 13-inch with the same Snapdragon X2 Plus chip, plus a new Surface Mouse with haptic feedback, a customisable Copilot button and Bluetooth 6.0.
For the Pro, though, Ink Canvas is the feature that stands out. Rather than simply adding another AI tool to Windows, Microsoft is building it around the way people actually use a pen: getting an idea down quickly before worrying about making it look finished.