Microsoft Successfully Shifts 1.5 Million Surface Tablets - According to Bloomberg's Report
In the tech world of 2013, Microsoft's Surface RT tablets faced a significant setback, struggling to make a mark against competitors such as Apple's iPad and Android devices. The Surface RT's commercial performance was so poor that it triggered a financial impairment of $900 million for Microsoft, due to unsold inventory [4].
The Surface line, which included the Surface RT, never managed to capture more than 2% of the computer market on average during its existence. In fact, Microsoft stopped reporting Surface sales separately after 2022, folding them into broader device sales [3].
During the same year, Apple sold 22.9 million iPads, accounting for 43.6% of the market [2]. Comparatively, Microsoft managed to sell slightly over a million Surface RT tablets since their launch in October 2012 [1].
Ranjit Atwal, research director at analyst company Gartner, attributes the low Surface RT sales to several factors, including the lack of intuitive nature of the Surface interface, a lack of apps, a less competitive price point, and Microsoft's emphasis on a keyboard as a value-add feature that may not be effective in the consumer market [5].
It is reported that Microsoft ordered 3 million Surface RT tablets, but if Bloomberg's report is accurate, they have only sold approximately 100,000 units so far in 2013 [6]. Microsoft has not yet confirmed or denied these reported figures.
The Surface Pro, which uses an Intel chip and the full Windows 8 operating system, was launched in February and has sold around 400,000 units [1]. The Surface RT tablets and the Surface Pro are different models, running different versions of the Windows 8 operating system and having different hardware configurations [7].
The Surface RT tablets use a chip designed by ARM and a cut-down version of Windows 8, while the Surface Pro uses an Intel chip and the full Windows 8 operating system [7]. This difference in hardware and software configurations might have contributed to the Surface RT's poor performance in the market.
Given that the Surface RT tablets are now obsolete and have been discontinued for several years, it is not sensible to provide current market share data for this model. However, the Surface brand overall represents only a small fraction of the total PC market, consistently below 3% historically [3]. The broader tablet market is now dominated by Android and iOS devices.
In the fourth quarter of 2012, IDC reported that Microsoft sold around 900,000 Surface RT tablets [8]. Worldwide tablet shipments during the same period totaled 52.5 million [9]. Microsoft has sold 1.5 million Surface tablets overall [1].
In conclusion, the Surface RT tablets were a commercial failure for Microsoft in 2013, resulting in a large financial impairment of $900 million due to unsold inventory [4]. The Surface RT's poor performance can be attributed to a variety of factors, including its lack of intuitive nature, a lack of apps, a less competitive price point, and the emphasis on a keyboard as a value-add feature that may not be effective in the consumer market. The Surface brand overall represents only a small fraction of the total PC market, and the broader tablet market is now dominated by Android and iOS devices.
Technology advances continued to evolve in the following years, with new gadgets such as smartphones and wearable devices gaining significant popularity. Meanwhile, the Surface line, which included the Surface RT, struggled to maintain a presence, representing only a small fraction of the total PC market [3]. The technology landscape was fiercely competitive, and the Surface RT's failures highlighted the challenges Microsoft faced in the burgeoning tablet market [10].
