Microsoft is refreshing its lowest-end Surface devices, the 13-inch Surface Laptop and 12-inch Surface Pro, with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X2 Plus processor featuring an 80 TOPS NPU, replacing the first-gen Snapdragon X Plus. Both machines launch October 13, priced at $1,199 and $1,149 respectively, with new black color options, brighter 500-nit displays, and the Surface Pro gaining optional 5G in enterprise models plus a new sketching app called Ink Canvas.
Microsoft has updated its smaller Surface Pro 12-inch tablet and Surface Laptop 13 with new Snapdragon X2 Plus processors, keeping the same designs but adding brighter 500-nit displays. Prices have risen to $1,150 for the Surface Pro 12 and $1,199 for the Surface Laptop 13, up from sub-$1,000 launches last year, which the company attributes partly to rising memory costs.
Microsoft has upgraded its smaller Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 series processors, matching the chips already used in its larger 13-inch Surface Pro and 13.8- and 15-inch Surface Laptop models. The new 12-inch Surface Pro moves to a six-core Snapdragon X Plus X2P-42-100 chip with an upgraded GPU and NPU capable of 80 trillion operations per second, and Microsoft also increased its memory. Alongside the laptop updates, Microsoft introduced a new Surface Mouse featuring haptic feedback.
A Gallup survey commissioned by Microsoft, covering roughly 1,000 respondents each in 37 of a planned 140 countries between April and July, found that 68% of Americans who use AI daily still report concern about it, with worry rising further among less-frequent users. Overall, 74% of Americans said they feel worried about AI, and only 36% expect it to mostly benefit the country, placing the U.S. among the most anxious nations surveyed. Canada showed a similar pattern, with 29% using AI daily and 64% of those aware of the technology expressing concern.
Microsoft is releasing an updated Surface Mouse on October 13th, its first refresh since 2016. The new mouse adds haptic feedback for clicks and alignment cues, a customizable action button defaulting to Copilot, Bluetooth 6.0 for pairing with up to three devices, and a redesigned soft-touch body. It will cost $79.99 in black or platinum and launches alongside refreshed Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models.
Microsoft is releasing updated versions of its smaller Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models on October 13th, powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Plus chips. The devices keep the same design, displays and ports as last year's models but now start at 16GB of RAM, with the Surface Pro starting at $1,149.99 and the Surface Laptop at $1,199.99 — both notably higher than their predecessors' starting prices of $799.99 and $899.99.
LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, is rolling out a feature enabling verified companies to strip false employment claims from user profiles. The tool targets people who list jobs they never actually held at a given organization.
Microsoft has filed a patent application, published in July and titled 'Generative Narrative Game Experience With Player Feedback,' for a system that uses generative AI to alter quests, storylines and world details based on individual player behavior. The technology would track player actions through a 'narrative state graph' and could also factor in facial expressions and other emotional signals to decide which characters or areas to expand.
Microsoft has published a patent application titled "Contextually Aware Management of Interactive Software Application Access," describing a system that uses signals from a game engine to insert ads at natural pause points like boss fights, loading screens, or cutscene transitions. The system would display a video or static ad and reset a timer before searching for the next opportunity to interrupt gameplay. Microsoft has not confirmed whether or when this system will be implemented in actual games.
Microsoft has shut down EvilTokens, a subscription-based cybercrime service sold via Telegram that used AI tools to break into Microsoft accounts and mine stolen inboxes for payment details and business contacts. The company said the service compromised roughly 12,000 accounts across 10,000 organizations by abusing Microsoft's device-code sign-in process, and it seized 50 websites and 150 domains via legal action. UK police separately arrested two men suspected of running the operation.
Microsoft has told IT administrators that the September 2026 security updates for Windows 11 versions 26H1, 25H2 and 24H2 can cause Always On VPN connections to fail when automatic protocol selection between IKEv2 and SSTP is enabled. Affected connections may get stuck in a 'Connecting' state or throw a 'port already in use' error on retry. Microsoft has not yet issued a permanent fix but recommends administrators manually set the VPN profile to use only SSTP or only IKEv2 as a workaround.
Microsoft and partners including Cloudflare, Coinbase, OpenAI, SpyCloud, TRM Labs and Health-ISAC disrupted EvilTokens, a phishing-as-a-service platform that used AI to scan compromised inboxes and craft tailored lures. The operation had compromised over 12,000 inboxes across more than 10,000 organizations worldwide, spanning sectors like healthcare, finance and higher education. The takedown seized 50 sites and disabled 150 domains, and UK police arrested two men, aged 32 and 38, after Microsoft shared intelligence with the Metropolitan Police's cybercrime unit.
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