Microsoft Confirms Plans For Smaller Windows 8 Tablets

Microsoft has confirmed that it is working with its hardware partners to release a range of smaller tablets running Windows 8 and Windows RT.

The plans were revealed by Peter Klein, the outgoing Microsoft Chief Financial Officer (CFO), in a conference call with investors and the media following the company’s release of its results for the third quarter of the 2013 financial year.

Klein said that the new devices would be available in the coming months at competitive prices, although no specific manufacturers were named.

Smaller Windows 8 tablets

Speculation about smaller tablets has intensified in recent weeks after Microsoft changed its Windows 8 certification rules that allow devices to have a minimum resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, the same as the iPad Mini.

Cheaper, smaller tablets would allow Windows 8 to compete in the increasingly competitive seven inch tablet market in which non-Apple tablets have enjoyed significant success. The Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire have threatened Apple’s apparent stranglehold on tablets to the point where it reacted by releasing a 7.9-inch tablet.

The only downside would appear to be that the smaller resolution would disable ‘snap’, a feature which lets two Windows Store apps be displayed at the same time.

Klein’s departure was announced earlier today in the company’s results, which revealed Microsoft made a profit of £4 billion in the most recent quarter. However it is likely to be concerned by flat revenue generated from Windows 8, which was released last October.

Windows 8 is the first version of the operating system to work equally well on both tablets and desktop PCs, while Windows RT is a version designed for devices running ARM-based architecture.

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