Microsoft slashes Surface Pro's price by another $100: 64GB for $699, 128GB for $799, and 256GB for $999
Microsoft has slashed the price of its original Surface Pro by $100. While the tablet has been largely dropped from the broader Surface product line, it's still available on the Microsoft Store …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft had already reduced Surface RT pricing in July and made an earlier $100 cut to Surface Pro in August. The new reduction extends that reset across the remaining original Pro configurations.
The timing also separates the first-generation device from Surface Pro 2, which reviewers described as faster, quieter and longer-lasting. Microsoft is using price to keep the older model sellable while its successor defines the premium tier.
First-order effects
- Microsoft Store buyers can purchase the remaining original Surface Pro models at $699, $799 and $999, lowering the entry price for Microsoft’s full Windows tablet.
- Surface Pro 2 gains a clearer product-positioning advantage over the original Pro as Microsoft discounts the predecessor.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft’s successive Surface RT price reduction and Pro cuts make price segmentation, rather than a single Surface price point, central to clearing first-generation inventory.
- The Microsoft Store must present the discounted original Pro alongside Surface Pro 2 without allowing the lower-priced predecessor to obscure the newer model’s performance and battery-life improvements.
Third-order effects
- Repeated reductions across the initial Surface range point to a hardware strategy in which Microsoft uses end-of-generation pricing to manage transitions between device tiers.
- If that pattern persists, Surface product planning will depend as much on maintaining distance between old and new configurations as on introducing new hardware.
The trend: Microsoft is establishing a tiered Surface pricing model, with discounts on outgoing devices helping create room for improved successors.