Analyst still predicts end of Microsoft's Surface line despite marked growth

Remember that analyst that predicted the bitter end of Microsoft’s Surface line of devices by 2019 way back in October of last year? Well, he’s back, and he’s not backing down from his position.

Steve Brazier, CEO of market research firm Canalys, said recently at his company’s Canalys Channels Forum 2018 event, that it still doesn’t make sense for Microsoft to continue making Surface devices. "I stand by the fact that it doesn't make sense" for Microsoft to continue producing the device, The Register reports.

What’s funny about this projection is that Microsoft has just refreshed three of its four major computing hardware products, with the Surface Pro 6, Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Studio 2 – it even launched an all-new Surface product: Surface Headphones.

Even better, news just dropped prior to this projection that Microsoft is now among the top five PC hardware makers in the US, according to Gartner, with 4.1% of the country’s market share, which has more than doubled since 2017.

So, which is it? With brand new devices having just been debuted, and the Surface brand lead Panos Panay recently commenting on the existence of an entirely new product category, we find it highly unlikely that Microsoft would suddenly drop out now – not with this kind of momentum.

Although Lenovo and Dell's respective top brasses have sided with Brazier’s statements in the past, these are the same companies that have publicly stated their displeasure at Microsoft’s move into hardware production.

Everything just seems to make Brazier predictions more suspect. So, it’s probably safe to invest in a Surface product for the next few years, as all other signs point to positivity for Microsoft’s hardware.