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Microsoft job posting hints at ARM-powered Surface device

Microsoft job posting hints at ARM-powered Surface device

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Microsoft is rumored to be creating an ARM-powered notepad device with two screens that fold over much like the Courier concept, and a new job posting reveals that the company is planning some type of Surface ARM hardware. Spotted by WinFuture, the job posting is for a radio engineer based in Microsoft’s building 85, one of the many buildings Microsoft uses for its Surface and hardware employees.

The engineer will be responsible for hardware testing Wi-Fi and other radio equipment in a product, and Microsoft is specifically looking for someone who can travel to China regularly to meet with manufacturing teams. Microsoft uses a Pegatron plant in China to manufacture both its Surface devices and Xbox hardware, so combined with the building 85 link it’s reasonable to assume this is new Microsoft hardware.

Microsoft wants an ARM expert

Microsoft is also looking for an engineer that has LTE experience with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset. Qualcomm has not yet officially unveiled this chipset, but the company is expected to reveal it next week at the Qualcomm Snapdragon summit. Qualcomm is also rumored to be ready to detail more of its Windows on ARM plans at it summit.

All of these links suggest Microsoft is planning some type of ARM-powered Surface hardware. That wouldn’t be a surprise given its Windows on ARM efforts, but it’s still not clear what type of device we’ll see. Microsoft is releasing its Surface Pro with LTE today to business customers, but that particular device runs on a traditional Intel processor. A future Surface Pro with LTE and a Qualcomm processor could be the ultimate mobile computer, but Microsoft might have bigger plans to redefine exactly what a mobile computer is.