Following the modification of guidelines for hardware developers, the rumor emerged that Microsoft is working on a smaller version of the Surface tablet.
As discovered by ZDNet, the Redmond giant changed its certification rules for Windows 8 to include a new resolution for touchscreen devices – 1024×768 pixels (XGA). As you can imagine, such resolution is ideal for smaller devices and at some point in the future, we could see some sort of Surface Mini that would compete head-to-head with the iPad Mini (which has the that kind of screen).
However, the smaller screen also comes with a caveat — for instance, Snap won’t work on devices with XGA screens so users won’t be able to view two Windows Store apps simultaneously side by side.
Needless to say, this is still in the early rumor phase and all we can do is speculate when (or even whether) the Surface Mini will be released. If I were are Microsoft, I would rather concentrate all efforts on keeping my partners happy, eventually helping them with reference designs…