Surface USB-C dongle due out 'later this year,' Microsoft says

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

It's a little later than expected, but Microsoft says a Surface USB-C dongle is still on the way.

While the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop impressed with their debuts last year, some were disappointed by their notable lack of USB-C ports. Fortunately, Microsoft said at the time that it was planning to release a USB-C dongle for people who want to add the port to their Surface. Since then, Microsoft has been mum on when to expect the adapter, but now it looks like we have a better idea.

Speaking with The Verge, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the USB-C Surface dongle is "on the roadmap for later this year." Unless and until those plans are delayed, you can expect the adapter to be available before the end of 2018.

While Microsoft itself hasn't shown off the dongle in public, noted leaker WalkingCat has posted what appears to be a picture of it to Twitter. And yes, it does appear rather large.

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A dongle certainly won't be for everyone, but it should go a long way toward satisfying many who opted for a Surface Pro or Surface Laptop. Given that Microsoft deemed it too early to bring USB-C to the devices in 2017, it's possible we could see it with future iterations; the port is already available on the Surface Book 2, for example.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

16 Comments
  • This thing was announced in either later 2015 or early 2016. It's still not out yet. Sheesh
  • LMAO That is comically large! Like a prop for a Carrot Top show.
  • Reminds me of my laptop's power brick.
  • Unless it makes it Thunderbolt it's not that useful. Yes I know it will help with charging phones and some docks
  • This is why I bought an XPS 13 instead. If I wanted dongles I would have bought a MacBook.
  • It's.... BIG
  • Big is back!! It's the 2000 SUX USB-C dongle! 😁👍
  • @theefman. LMAFO. It's a Robocop reference for anyone who didn't get the joke, the old classic. It had an advert about a car, which featured a T-Rex... which looks erm... rather "dated" these days haha. Here's the advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl8mQhxhE_Q
  • I fail to see the need for this dongle. It won't give the 10gbit/s and the charging usb-c port nor will it give Thunderbolt 3.0. So, in conclusion, useless.
  • I can already buy a tip to convert a USB-C cable to the usual USB 3 ports. Much smaller than this. Are you sure something this size doesn't offer something more than what's already available? Crazy.
  • Are you saying that this dongle will not allow charging of the Surface laptop/Pro? That would be the only reason i'd get one as it would be nice to only carry one high powered adapter around to charge both phone and pc.
  • Oh, they are still working on this...
  • Anything new that comes from Surface is mouthwatering 🤤 waiting for Andromeda 🤞🏼 now that will blow my mind.
  • Unless it is a prototype or photoshopped image, the size of the brick doesn't make any sense if it only has USB c plug. I think it also has Surface connect port on it so you can use USB c and Surface connect at the same time.
  • It's a frankly irritanting debacle. After all it started with "people will want to charge the device with 3rd party USB-C chargers and thats why we don't add USB-C just yet" (hell yeah!), but then later say they're going to offer a dongle? That doesn't charge? Nor have thunderbolt in it? Long live to the XPS 13.
  • You guys should check out this one: (Brand new)
    https://www.benq.com/en/monitor/video-enjoyment/ex3501r.html I'm getting that one!