Microsoft Surface Duo stylus could be one of its secret weapons

Some were disappointed in hearing about the Surface Duo's 2019 specs but that might be missing the point of the device entirely. In addition to having been in development way back in 2019, the dual-screen Android phone from Microsoft is focusing on a different metric for success. It is, in effect, promising a totally new mobile experience and it apparently won't stop just at the two screens. Even the Surface Pen stylus could offer something few can, including Samsung.

It's no secret that Microsoft wants to make the Surface Duo work with the Surface Pen stylus it uses for its other Surface products. What it hasn't revealed so far is exactly how it plans to do that or how the experience will be. There is no official confirmation yet but based on Windows Latest's information, it's going to be quite interesting.

The pen will have various actions associated with clicks though it doesn't really say if those are pen tip clicks or clicks of the stylus side button. There's also the promise of minimal lag when using the pen, something that it can easily achieve by using active digitizers rather than Bluetooth connectivity.

Of course, both features are already present on Samsung's S Pen stylus for its line of Galaxy Note phones and Galaxy Tab tablets. What Microsoft has over Samsung (and LG's Dual Screen case for that matter) is that its Surface Pen can travel back and forth between the two screens and the system will act as if it were just a single screen instead of two independent ones.

Sadly, even Microsoft is hindered by Android's lack of support for tilt sensitivity, something Samsung may have worked on together with Wacom to make it possible on the S Pen. Of course, all of these are still rather theoretical at the moment and we can only wait and see how well it will translate into practice.