Full title of the reference is:
Microsoft's Surface hardware business shrunk by $285 million — and it's weirdly a good thing for MicrosoftLink:
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-surface-revenue-decline-good-news-for-windows-10-2017-4The Microsoft Surface hardware business, encompassing the Surface Pro tablet, Surface Book laptop, and Surface Studio desktop PC, shrunk revenues 26%, a $285 million decrease, over the same period in 2016.
The reason for the decline, according to Microsoft: "increased price competition in the premium 2-in-1 category and product end-of-lifecycle dynamics."
Why is this Good News?
No doubt, that's not great news for the Surface business. Still, in a weird but real way, it's good news for Microsoft.
"Increased price competition" just means that other manufacturers are building their own Surface-style, high-end convertible tablet/PC devices, and selling them for less than Microsoft's own product lineup.
This would be a problem if, like Apple, Microsoft was a hardware company. But the whole point of the Surface products in the first place was to get PC manufacturers building more touch-friendly, stylus-friendly Windows tablets and computers.
Now about the Surface Pro 5 RUMOR ...
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/surface-pro-5-release-date-news-and-rumors-1316294There is no doubt in our minds that it’s time for the Surface Pro 5. Because Surface sales have dropped 26% year-on-year, it’s concerning that we didn’t see the next iteration of Microsoft's tablet-that-can-replace-your-laptop at the company’s #MicrosoftEDU event, where it revealed the Surface Laptop.
Watch on You Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saLinGqju4w 
