Microsoft Surface Pro 4 said to launch October with Intel Skylake chips and Windows 10 on board

A fresh report from Digitimes, quoting the usual unnamed industry insider sources, says that Microsoft has notified its upstream supply chain to start shipping components for the upcoming Surface Pro 4 in September. The report then moves on to note that the tablet should hit the market in October.

The same report also claims that Microsoft Surface Pro 3 shipment levels reached about 300,000 units per month following its launch. With the upcoming Surface Pro 4, Microsoft is allegedly estimating that monthly shipments could reach up to 500,000 - 600,000 units per month.

According to the report, Microsoft doesn't plan on changing a recipe that proved to be successful, as the upcoming tablet is said to maintain the thin form factor and the large display available on the Surface Pro 3. To bring the tablet up to 2015 standards, however, the report claims that Microsoft will integrate Intel's upcoming Skylake processors (probably Core i3, i5, and i7 models just like on the Surface Pro 3, but faster and more energy-efficient). As expected, the Surface Pro 4 is said to arrive with Windows 10 on board.

Microsoft's original laptop replacement, the Surface Pro 3, seemed to hit sweet spot for 2-in-1 devices, integrating serious laptop-class performance, a fully-fledged operating system, and a thin, portable form factor. If this rumor is to be believed, Microsoft has high expectations from the upcoming Surface Pro 4, but it remains to be seen if the tablet will be twice as popular as its predecessor, as Microsoft allegedly expects it to be.