Microsoft says its 85-inch Surface Hub 2S, originally unveiled in April 2019, will be available in January 2021 for $21,999.99
There's also a new software update for the Surface Hub 2S — Microsoft is starting to take preorders for its 85-inch Surface Hub 2S today.
Context & Ripple Effects
This closes a long loop: the original Surface Hub launched in 2015 at $20,000 for the 84-inch [[a:829997]], then Microsoft raised prices by $2,000-$3,000, pushing the big model to exactly $21,999 [[a:838324]] — and demand still ran hot, with shipments passing 500 customers by mid-2016 [[a:871938]].
The Surface Hub 2S generation arrived in 2019 with a 50-inch at $9,000 [[a:940670]] and a promised-but-vague upgrade path to a '2X' via cartridge [[a:933757]]. Today Microsoft finally dates and prices the line's top screen: 85 inches at $21,999.99, preorders open now, plus a fresh software update for existing units.
First-order effects
- Enterprise buyers can lock in the 85-inch from today at $21,999.99 — the same flagship price Microsoft landed on after its 2015 round of $2,000-$3,000 increases — for January 2021 delivery.
- Existing Surface Hub 2S owners get a new software update out of the same announcement, deepening the platform Microsoft launched with the 50-inch 2S at $9,000.
Second-order effects
- Holding the top SKU at $21,999 rather than discounting implies the premium tier still clears — consistent with the demand that exceeded forecasts and shipped to over 500 customers earlier in the line's life.
- The 2018 roadmap dangled a 2020 cartridge upgrade turning a 2S into a 2X [[a:933757]]; today's news ships more current-gen software instead, leaving that promised upgrade path conspicuously absent from the story.
Third-order effects
- An 18-month-plus lag between unveil and shelf date confirms this is a slow-cycle category — yet one Microsoft keeps refreshing rather than killing, as the Surface Hub 3 arrived in 2023 with the same 50-/85-inch pairing [[a:844448]], pointing to large-format touch displays persisting as an enterprise niche built around generational software updates.
The trend: Premium large-format collaboration displays are settling into a slow-refresh enterprise niche, with Microsoft holding near-$22,000 flagship pricing across product generations.