See the magic inside Microsoft Surface Duo's ground-breaking hardware

By Daniel Rubino
published

The inner workings of Surface Duo are revealed in this video from CNET, along with thoughts from Panos Panay.

Duo Inside
Duo Inside

What you need to know

  • A new video shows Surface Duo's internal hardware.
  • Interviews with Panos Panay and his team talk about the ideas behind Surface Duo.
  • See a working model of how the hinge works and Surface Duo in action.

Microsoft's Surface Duo is garnering a lot of interest from the tech community, if only because it is a breath of fresh air compared to the cycle release of current smartphones. Conceived nearly five years ago, it has been a long road for Surface Due to finally land in customer's hands early next month.

CNET managed to get a non-working Surface Duo prototype from Microsoft that reveals all the dual-screen Android devices' inner workings. The prop is a 1:1 to replica of Surface Duo, including all the Corning Gorilla Glass (both sides), and those captivating working hinges.

But the real charm comes from seeing the inside of Surface Duo, including all the custom components used to make those dual screens happen. As Microsoft's chief product officer Panos Panay detailed in the official Surface Duo Press Briefing, a lot of thought went into not only making Surface Duo functional, but also "elegant" as Panay notes, or "it goes away quick."

Duo Inside

Source: CNET (Image credit: Source: CNET)

Indeed, the 4.8mm thinness (when opened) of Surface Duo is quite remarkable. In the CNET video, Scott Stein shows how the device handles, flips, and folds, giving a new perspective on how it works. The footage also interjects some interviews with Panay and his team on the philosophy of Surface Duo.

After watching the eight-minute video, you'll likely come away with a new appreciation of Surface Duo's engineering achievements. Unlike LG's more cost-effective Velvet, Surface Duo is built from the ground up for dual displays, but also to represent the pinnacle of modern engineering.

If you want to see more of the innards of Surface Duo, CNET posted some high-quality photos to go along with the video that is worth a look too.

Microsoft Surface DuoPreorders today!
Microsoft Surface Duo

Two screens are better than one.

Microsoft delves into the future of foldables with an ambitious dual-screen device, featuring two ultra-thin 5.6-inch AMOLED displays bound by a 360-degree hinge. This pocketable inking-enabled Android smartphone marks the latest in the Surface lineup, geared for mobile productivity.

Microsoft Surface Duo

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Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.