Why the hate for the Surface Duo 2?

“It’s just two screens stuck together.”

“Why do the cameras stick out so much?”

“It’s not even a 'real' foldable.”

“Why is it so expensive?”

These are just a small number of the “complaints” I’ve seen about the Surface Duo 2, announced by Microsoft just the other day at their Surface event.

The original Duo had plenty of issues. Slow updates, USB-C ports that were cracking, poor software and no real camera system. It wasn’t intended to be a person’s main device. It wasn’t even intended to be a phone during its conception. It did however offer something completely different to anything else on the market, so it appealed to a small niche of folk after something more productivity focused.

Many of the missing features most people would have wanted in the original Duo, such as a triple camera set-up now appear on the sequel and still this isn’t good enough for those who can’t see the genuine engineering feat before their eyes. Microsoft even called it a phone this time during the event!

I understand people have their reservations. Most don’t want a phone, even a dual screen phone that feels like it’s still in a beta. They have a lot to prove in regards to keeping the OS up to date considering the original Duo is still running Android 10. However MS have supported it heavily in improving the experience and for me that shows they’re committed to this product. They say it will receive 3yrs of software updates.

I would honestly like to see a little more nuance from so called ‘techies’ when talking about or covering the Surface Duo 2. Look at it critically but fairly. It isn’t fair or productive to simply trash it because of the price or because it’s Microsoft. It’s in the interest of nobody to have that kind of discourse.

Please do better. Let’s at least appreciate what Microsoft have achieved here.