Surface Pro 3 battery woes only a software bug, says Microsoft

"Stay Calm and Keep Updating." That seems to be the message that Microsoft, at long last, is giving baffled and irate Surface Pro 3 owners regarding their concern about the suddenly degraded battery life of their beloved 2-in-1 tablets. Rather than a cunning marketing ploy to get those to upgrade to, say, a Surface Pro 4 or even a Surface Book after their warranties run out, Microsoft simply claims it is a simple case of a software bug and that it can simply be fixed with an update. Whenever that update comes.

A few days ago, disgruntled Surface Pro 3 owners took to the Internet to air their concern and dissatisfaction over their batteries inexplicably starting to show signs of dying when they were perfectly serviceable before hand, with some lasting only an hour after a full charge. Users observed that it started happening after warranties for the Surface Pro 3 ran out. Coincidence? Some think not. Of course, it could probably really be just a coincidence, but the end result is the same. Affected users are worried that having their batteries replaced now would involve hundreds of dollars.

Thankfully, that won't be the case. Although some would have wished Microsoft's reply came sooner, the tech giant did have to investigate the matter thoroughly before making blanket statements. According to the official reply on the Microsoft forums, Microsoft has isolated the issue down to a limited number of devices. Given the noise, one would think otherwise.

Furthermore, Microsoft assures that the batteries are, in fact, still OK. The problem is something that could be addressed via a software fix. The question now is when that fix will come. Given we are talking about hours shaved from the normal operation of a Surface Pro 3, which doesn't boast much hours in the first place, such a fix couldn't come sooner.

SOURCE: Microsoft