Redmond-based Microsoft today said it expects its 'Surface' line of premium computing devices to be among the growth drivers for the company in India. Microsoft, which unveiled its Surface Book 2 and Surface Laptop in India today priced Rs 86,999 onwards, said it has seen strong growth in sales of Surface devices in the Indian market. Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari added that the expanded Surface family provides a strong portfolio of Microsoft devices that will allow users in India to unleash their creativity through Windows 10 features.
Surface revenue increased USD 237 million or 25% globally, driven by strong performance of the latest editions of Surface against a low prior year comparable, as per Microsoft's June 2018 quarter results. The company does not provide country-specific numbers.
Citing IDC data, Microsoft India Country General Manager (Consumer and Device Sales) Priyadarshi Mohapatra said the consumer premium market for PCs grew 60% to 1.08 million units in 2017 from the previous year, reflecting the growing demand in the category.
"The launch of new products is an endorsement of the success we have seen and we believe that Surface will be one of the growth levers for our future growth. It is one of the fastest growing segments," he added.
These devices are targeted at developers, creatives (artists/designers etc) and "premium intenders" (people looking for premium devices), he added.
Mohapatra said smartphones will not cannibalise the PC market but would rather "complement" the segment. "Smartphones are about content consumption. When it comes to creating content or heavy workloads, people still go back to PCs. So, I think both will co-exist, they will be complementary," he said to PTI.
Microsoft had recently unveiled the new Surface Go, but the company did not comment on the timeline for launch in the Indian market. The Surface Book 2, available in 13.5-inch and 15-inch versions, feature the 8th generation Intel processors, and NVIDIA graphics chips and is priced Rs 1,37,999 onwards.
The Surface Laptop feature 7th generation Intel Core processors and offers up to 14.5 hours of battery life. It is priced Rs 86,999 onwards.
