Microsoft today launched Surface Hub 2S, which will come in 50- and 85-inch sizes and ship to customers starting in June.

“Surface Hub 2S is a product built to engage and empower teams by bridging digital and physical workspaces, because how we work continues to evolve every day,” Microsoft’s Panos Panay writes. “Not so long ago, the emphasis was on individual productivity. Today that’s changed – the situations we face at work are more complex and solving them requires a variety of skill sets and knowledge.”

Surface Hub 2S is also a product built of compromise. As you may recall, when Microsoft first announced Surface Hub 2 back in May 2018, there was only one version of the product, at one screen size, and it was to run next-generation software. But a lot has changed since then. In September, the firm said that there would now be two Surface Hub versions, the originally-envisioned version that’s been renamed to Surface Hub 2X and a new Surface Hub 2S model that would ship first and utilize first-generation Surface Hub software. (Customers can later upgrade Hub 2S to 2X using a hardware module.)

The device launching today is the lesser of the two, but it does, of course, retain much of the innovation that Microsoft has always planned for this hardware. The device—now, devices—are thinner and lighter than the original hefty Surface Hub models and fit more easily into shared workspaces. Graphics performance is allegedly 50 percent faster than the original as well.

Microsoft says that the 50-inch version of Surface Hub 2 will ship in the U.S. in June and will cost $9000. Surface Hub 2S will be available in more markets “shortly thereafter,” according to the software giant.

New to today’s announcement is a second, 85-inch version of Surface Hub 2 that won’t ship until 2020 at the earliest; Microsoft says that it will begin testing Surface Hub 2S 85-inch with select customers in early 2020. The price is unknown.

“We’ve been inspired by how our customers use Surface Hub to transform meetings and collaborate,” Mr. Panay says. “And we can’t wait to see how businesses across the globe will use Surface Hub 2S to empower their teams to work together in new ways.”

Tagged with Surface Hub 2, Surface Hub 2S, Surface Hub 2X