The OG Surface Duo will get Android 11 before year's end
Just as most popular Android OEMs are in the midst of their Android 12 beta programs, Microsoft has announced plans to upgrade last year's Surface Duo to Android 11. The OG Duo launched on September 10, 2020, not long after the release of Android 11 on September 8, and is still stuck on the same OS version. The company recently unveiled its successor, the Duo 2, and had previously committed to three years of software and security support for the Duo.
Per The Verge, Microsoft is working to roll out Android 11 to the original Surface Duo before the end of the year. Previously, it was expected to get the now year-old OS in the summer.
The new Duo, which will be released on October 21, also runs Android 11. Meanwhile, the final version of Android 12 is expected to arrive on October 4.
We remain committed to providing updates to Surface Duo, and we’re working to bring Android 11 to existing customers before the end of this year.
Needless to say, the company clearly needs to step up its game in this department. Although the Duo is an ambitious device, it was already dated when it came out, and on top of that, its software experience left a lot to be desired.
Most of the updates that have been released so far were aimed at fixing bugs. The device was riddled with software-side issues, including problems with multitasking, the display powering off in the book mode, navigation glitches, disappearing elements, and app crashes. That's not fitting for a phone that costs $1,399.
The Duo 2 is slightly more expensive, and while that may be off-putting to some, the increase is not necessarily unwarranted, given that the device comes with bigger 90Hz screens, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip, 5G, NFC, and a new camera system.
If the company has made efforts of equal magnitude for software, it might just have a winner on its hands, and the device may topple other best phones of 2021.
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