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Surface Duo vs. Surface 2 - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Duo and Surface 2 specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest November 15, 2023

Surface Duo vs. Surface 2

The 2020 Surface Duo features the 5W Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-core Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 with a clock speed of 2.84 GHz. While the 2013 Surface 2 features the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 4 T40 with the boost speed up to 1.90 GHz.

If you are in the market looking for a laptop and don't know what's the difference between the 8.1″ Surface Duo (2020) and the 10.6″ Surface 2 (2013), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Duo vs. Surface 2: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Duo See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface 2 See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new		Better design It’s now thinner (8.9mm), lighter (522g), and new platinum magnesium exterior. Better performance Better single-core and multi-core performance and much better graphics performance (72 graphics cores). Better battery Up to 10 hours of video playback. New kickstand Now in two angles, original 22-degree, and new 55-degree. Better display Higher display resolution with Full HD (1920 x 1080) display. Optional mobile broadband It comes with optional 4G LTE support. More Full-size USB 3.0 port, 3.5MP front, and 5MP rear camera, new thinner backlit type cover.
What's missing		Can't run desktop apps You can't run desktop apps (x86 or x64) on this device. The only way to get apps is through the Windows Store. No Windows 10 The latest OS you can get is Windows RT 8.1 Update 3 Platinum color only No longer available in black color.

Availability	Surface Duo	Surface 2
Released	2020	2013
Release Info	Introduced: Microsoft October Event (October 2, 2019) Pre-ordered: August 12, 2020 Released: September 10, 2020	Introduced: September 23, 2013 Pre-ordered: September 24, 2013 Released: October 22, 2013
Pricing	$1,399 - 128 GB $1,499 - 256 GB	Surface 2 Wi-Fi $449 - 2 GB \| 32 GB $549 - 2 GB \| 64 GB Surface 2 4G LTE $679 - 2 GB \| 64 GB

Surface Duo Price
	Microsoft Surface Duo Bumper 2 - Tangerine By Microsoft $29.95 $39.99 25% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft 8WV-00001 Surface Slim Pen 2, Black (8WV00001) By Microsoft $97.45 $129.99 25% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Book 2 (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB) - 13.5in (Renewed) By Microsoft $338.95	See at Amazon
Surface 2 Price
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 (2023) - 14.4" Touchscreen - Intel Core i7, 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, Windows 11, Platinum Color Copilot By Microsoft $3,199.99 $3,699.99 14% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB) - Platinum (Renewed) By Microsoft $249.00 $304.99 18% OFF	See at Amazon
	New Microsoft Surface Go 2 - 10.5" Touch-Screen - Intel Pentium - 4GB Memory - 64GB - Wifi - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $349.00	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Duo	Surface 2
Size	8.1 Inches	10.6 Inches
Info	Dual PixelSense™ Fusion Displays open: 8.1” AMOLED, 2700x1800 (3:2), 401 PPI Single PixelSense™ Display: 5.6” AMOLED, 1800x1350 (4:3), 401 PPI Display Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass	Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (2M Pixels) Density: 208 PPI Aspect ratio: 16:9 ClearType Full HD Display Touch: 5 points multi-touch

Exterior	Surface Duo	Surface 2
Size Comparison
Dimensions	7.35 x 5.71 x 0.18 (186.9 mm x 145.2 mm x 4.8 mm) Open 3.67 x 5.71 x 0.38 (93.3 mm x 145.2 mm x 9.9 mm) Closed	10.81” x 6.79” x 0.35” (275 mm x 172 mm x 8.9 mm) Width: 10.81” (275 mm) Height: 6.79” (172 mm) Thickness: 0.35” (8.9 mm)
Weight	0.55 lbs (250 g)	Surface 2: 1.15 lbs (522 g) Surface 2 with Keyboard: 1.7 lbs (771 g)
Colors	Glacier	Silver
Keyboard and Trackpad		Surface Type Cover Not included Keyboard: Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys. Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12). 4 directional keys; Windows and Media Controls Keys. LED backlighting. Trackpad: Two-finger multitouch gesture trackpad.
Ports	1 x USB Type-C 1 x SIM card slot	1 x Full-size USB 3.0 1 x microSD™ card reader 1 x Surface Charging Port 1 x Headset jack 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Cover port 1 x Nano SIM card slot (Surface 2 with LTE only)

Internal Specs	Surface Duo	Surface 2
Processor	Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 8 cores, 8 threads, 2.84 GHz, 5MB Cache, 5W	NVIDIA Tegra 4 T40 4 cores, 1.70 → 1.90 GHz, 2MB Cache,
Integrated Graphics	Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 Qualcomm® Adreno™ 640 GPU 585 MHz	NVIDIA Tegra 4 T40 NVIDIA GeForce ULP graphics 72 Graphics Cores, 672 MHz
Memory	6GB DRAM	2GB of RAM
Storage	128GB 256GB UFS 3.0 of internal storage	32GB 64GB eMMC

Connectivity	Surface Duo	Surface 2
Wi-Fi	WiFi-5 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz)	Wi-Fi 4: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 technology	Bluetooth 4.0 low energy technology
	LTE: 4x4 MIMO, Cat.18 DL / Cat 5 UL, 5CA, LAA. Up to 1.2Gbps Download / Up to 150Mbps Upload Bands Supported: FDD-LTE: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,13,14,19,20,25,26,28,29,30,66 TD-LTE: 38,39,40,41,46 WCDMA: 1,2,5,8 GSM/GPRS: GSM-850, E-GSM-900, DCS-1800, PCS-1900 Location: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS One eSIM and one Nano SIM Note: AT&T locked device will not support eSIM	Optional LTE Nano SIM Tray 2G GSM (Quadband: 850/900/1800/1900) 3G UMTS (Bands 1, 2, 5) 4G LTE (Bands 4, 7, 17)

Battery	Surface Duo	Surface 2
Size	3577 mAh	31.5 Wh
Battery Life	Up to 15.5 hours of Local Video Playback Up to 10 days of Standby Time Up to 27 hours of Talk Time	Up to 10 hours of video playback
Power Supply	18W USB-C PD charger	24W proprietary power supply

Software	Surface Duo	Surface 2
OS	Android™ 10 3-years of software updates.	Windows RT 8.1
Built-in Apps	Microsoft built-in applications: Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Office Lens, PDF Reader, and more Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Teams Microsoft OneDrive Microsoft Edge Microsoft OneNote Microsoft To Do Microsoft News Microsoft Authenticator Microsoft Bing Search Intune Company Portal LinkedIn Microsoft Solitaire Collection Surface Audio Microsoft Surface Duo UI core features: Dual screen windowing Adaptive modes App Groups Microsoft 365 Feed Dynamic dock Universal Search Adaptive Camera Microsoft SwiftKey Adaptive Keyboard Your Phone Companion - Link to Windows Other preinstalled apps: Google Search Google Assistant Google Calendar Google Drive Google Duo Google Photos Google Play Movies & TV Google Play Store Google Maps Chrome Gmail YouTube YouTube Music Contacts Messages Phone Files Clock Calculator Sound recorder Spotify (Unlocked) HBO MAX (AT&T) AT&T TV (AT&T) My AT&T (AT&T) Call Protect (AT&T) Amazon Shopping (AT&T) NBA (AT&T)	Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT with Outlook

Camera & Audio	Surface Duo	Surface 2
Camera	Adaptive camera 11MP, f/2.0, 1.0 µm, PDAF and 84.0° diagonal FOV optimized with AI for front and rear Photos: Auto mode with low-light & HDR multi-frame photo capture and dynamic range scene detection Super-resolution zoom, and super zoom up to 7x Portrait mode with adjustable depth control Panorama mode Burst mode Video recording: 4K video recording at 30 fps and 60 fps 1080p video recording at 30 fps and 60 fps HEVC and H.264 video recording formats Gyro-based digital video stabilization Video Conferencing Microsoft Teams and Skype video conferencing up to 1080p at 30fps High CRI LED Flash for both front and world facing photo and video scenarios	3.5MP front-facing camera with 1080p HD video 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD video
Audio	Mono speaker Dual Mic noise suppression and echo cancellation optimized for productive use in all postures Best-in-class Full Duplex communication for voice calls in hands-free mode Audio formats supported: 3GP, MP3, MP4, MKV, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC, TS, AMR, FLAC, MID, MIDI, RTTL, RTX, OTA, IMY Qualcomm® aptX™ Adaptive	Dual microphones Stereo speakers with digitally enhanced for fuller sound

Misc	Surface Duo	Surface 2
Inking	Supports all in market generations of Surface Slim Pen, Surface Pen and Surface Hub 2 Pen 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel magnetic storage
Sensors	Dual Accelerometer Dual Gyroscope Dual Magnetometer Dual Ambient Light Sensor Proximity Sensor Hall Sensor Fingerprint Sensor	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer
Security	Biometric lock type: Fingerprint reader (1:100K FAR <3% FRR) Lock type: Swipe, PIN, password Security applications pre-loaded on the device: Microsoft Authenticator
In the box	Surface Duo Surface Duo Bumper (Color: Glacier) Surface Duo USB-C® Power Supply (18w) Quick Start Guide Warranty and Compliance Guide SIM Ejector tool	Surface 2 Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	Exterior Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass	Casing: Magnesium Kickstand: 2 positions Physical buttons: volumes, power