The Surface Duo won't receive a December update — updates should resume early 2021

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The Surface Duo team will wait until early 2021 to send out an update.

Surface Duo 2020
Surface Duo 2020 (Image credit: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • The Surface Duo will not receive a December update.
  • Many Microsoft employees are away for the holidays, and the company likely wants people on hand whenever updates roll out.
  • There should be a Surface Duo update in early 2021.

Microsoft's Surface Duo has received monthly updates since its launch up to this point. But this December will break away from that trend. Microsoft is pushing back any Surface Duo updates until people are back from the holidays.

As we got further into December, we began to suspect that there might not be a December update for the Surface Duo, and we have since confirmed with Microsoft that this is the case. A Microsoft spokesperson states that the next update should be early in 2021, though they did not specify if that will be in January.

Microsoft did not comment on the exact reason for the delay, but it's likely related to the holidays. As is the case with most companies, many Microsoft workers are off work for the holidays. When Microsoft rolls out an update, they want people on hand in case anything goes wrong that requires an immediate fix. With people away for the holidays, it's safer to pause things until next year.

While the Surface Duo will not receive an update in December, it has received several updates since its launch earlier this year. Our executive editor, Daniel Rubino, recently took a second crack a Surface Duo review that focuses on how the device has evolved over its first few months and what it's like to use long term.

The Surface Duo is on sale right now for $200 off through Microsoft and Best Buy. That discount brings its starting price down to $1,200.

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Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott

Sean Endicott is the news writer for Windows Central. If it runs Windows, is made by Microsoft, or has anything to do with either, he's on it. Sean's been with Windows Central since 2017 and is also our resident app expert. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com.
13 Comments
  • Disappointing since I thought they have said they plan to support these monthly updates. I might be less irritated if the extra time is being used to ship Android 11
  • Your absolutely right. It's quite disappointing, same with Windows insider channel, they promised an update to RS.
  • Does it really make a difference though 11 updates vs 12 a year? It is still miles better than most other Android phone brands and its almost christmas anyway.
  • Understandable considering it's the end of the year. It's no big deal. Our devices are working fine.
  • Probably a good idea Microsoft doesn't continue to make these promises because people take the too literally. They should say "frequently throughout the year''
  • It's about meeting top teer industry standards for me. They need to demonstrate consistent support, especially with Google raising device support to four years with the 888 ARM devices. It's true one month will not break the world and COVID has impacted many things so I get it
  • Microsoft was at the top of promising 3 years before Samsung jumped on board recently. google's 4 years pledge hasn't started yet.
  • They are planning to release this outside the USA... How many years of support will potential purchasers get? And will they be expected to pay full price for 2 to 2.5 years of support?
  • It's no problem, IMO. Keeping it stable for Enterprise is better. The Duo is fantastic for work, particularly Teams (and the camera - ironically better than Slab phones for this purpose, which have better cameras, but "optimize" to much for a conference call view), and any bugs would be far worse than a minor new notification tweak.
  • Disappointing since we're still waiting for basic features, like icon customization, double-tap to wake, glance screen and more. Of course, if they happen to be working on an update that would introduce Win10X, with Android apps, then they get a complete pass. But that's probably a Christmas wish I will not get. :(
  • Meh, they should've just released a update with almost nothing on it. The release notes always say "performance improvements" and don't give any details anyways. Then people could stop complaining. The placebo effect would have many thinking they actually did something.
  • Hopefully soon will receive the January update, you really don't want to be to far behind with security patches with Android, I'm surprised that Microsoft has been so relaxed with this, having that monthly update was one of the benefits using the Duo, I know that the play store can tweak the applications and make the Duo run better but, monthly is monthly.
  • January is nearly over, hopefully by end of this week should have a update 😏