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Surface Duo vs. Surface RT - Detailed Specs Comparison

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

BY Evan Forrest February 21, 2026

Surface Duo vs. Surface RT

The 2020 Surface Duo features the 5W Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-core Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 with a clock speed of 2.84 GHz. While the 2012 Surface RT features the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 with the boost speed up to 1.40 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 RT (2012), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Duo vs. Surface RT: 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 RT See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new		Windows RT Microsoft's touch-centric OS is explicitly made for ARM-powered tablet devices. Free Microsoft Office 2013 RT It was shipped with the RT version of Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook 2013. Kickstand It comes with an integrated kickstand easy to switch between tablet and laptop mode. Detachable Touch & Type Cover Be more productive with a full-size keyboard doubling as a protective screen cover. More Magnet charging connector, Full-size USB 2.0 port, Bluetooth 4.0, HD front and rear camera.
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 Less multitouch support It supports only 5-points multitouch. More Only HD display and no USB 3.0 port.

Availability	Surface Duo	Surface RT
Released	2020	2012
Release Info	Introduced: Microsoft October Event (October 2, 2019) Pre-ordered: August 12, 2020 Released: September 10, 2020	Introduced: June 18, 2012 Not available for pre-ordered Released: October 26, 2012
Pricing	$1,399 - 128 GB $1,499 - 256 GB	Surface RT $499 - 2 GB \| 32 GB $599 - 2 GB \| 64 GB Surface RT with Black Touch Cover $599 - 2 GB \| 32 GB $699 - 2 GB \| 64 GB
Amazon Deals	$1,395.95 Microsoft Surface Duo 256GB (Unlocked) - Glacier $1,302.16 Microsoft Surface Pro 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet (2024), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 13" Touchscreen OLED Display, Snapdragon X Elite (12 Core), 16GB RAM, 256GB Storage, Black, Amazon Exclusive $12.99 Microsoft (MIJ22) New Surface Duo USB-C Power Supply (LLR-00001)	$128.65 Microsoft Surface RT (32GB) $138.99 Microsoft Surface 64GB Tablet (Dark Titanium) with Black Touch Cover $99.99 Microsoft Surface 2 (64 GB)

Surface Duo Price
	Microsoft Surface Duo 256GB (Unlocked) - Glacier By Microsoft $1,395.95	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet (2024), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 13" Touchscreen OLED Display, Snapdragon X Elite (12 Core), 16GB RAM, 256GB Storage, Black, Amazon Exclusive By Microsoft $1,302.16	See at Amazon
	Microsoft (MIJ22) New Surface Duo USB-C Power Supply (LLR-00001) By Microsoft $12.99	See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface RT 10.6-inch Price
	Microsoft Surface RT (32GB) By Microsoft $128.65	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface 64GB Tablet (Dark Titanium) with Black Touch Cover By Microsoft $138.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface 2 (64 GB) By Microsoft $99.99	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Duo	Surface RT
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: 1366 x 768 (1M Pixels) Density: 148 PPI Aspect ratio: 16:9 ClearType HD Display Touch: 5 points multi-touch

Exterior	Surface Duo	Surface RT
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 6.77” x 0.37” (275 mm x 172 mm x 9.4 mm) Width: 10.81” (275 mm) Height: 6.77” (172 mm) Thickness: 0.37” (9.4 mm)
Weight	0.55 lbs (250 g)	1.5 lbs (680 g)
Colors	Glacier	Dark Titanium
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. Trackpad: Two-finger multitouch gesture trackpad.
Ports	1 x USB Type-C 1 x SIM card slot	1 x Full-size USB 2.0 1 x microSD™ card reader 1 x Surface Charging Port 1 x Headset jack 1 x Micro HDMI video out port 1 x Cover port

Internal Specs	Surface Duo	Surface RT
Processor	Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 8 cores, 8 threads, 2.84 GHz, 5MB Cache, 5W	NVIDIA Tegra 3 4 cores, 1.30 → 1.40 GHz, 1MB Cache,
Integrated Graphics	Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 Qualcomm® Adreno™ 640 GPU 585 MHz	NVIDIA Tegra 3 NVIDIA GeForce ULP graphics 12 Graphics Cores,
Memory	6GB DRAM	2GB of RAM
Storage	128GB 256GB UFS 3.0 of internal storage	32GB 64GB Storage

Connectivity	Surface Duo	Surface RT
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

Battery	Surface Duo	Surface RT
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 8 hours of video playback
Power Supply	18W USB-C PD charger	24W proprietary power supply

Software	Surface Duo	Surface RT
OS	Android™ 10 3-years of software updates.	Windows RT Upgradeable to Windows RT 8.1 Update
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

Camera & Audio	Surface Duo	Surface RT
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	720p HD LifeCam front-facing camera with TrueColor Technology 720p HD LifeCam rear-facing camera with TrueColor Technology
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

Misc	Surface Duo	Surface RT
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 Compass
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 RT Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	Exterior Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass	Casing: VaporMg Kickstand: 1 position at 22° Physical buttons: volumes, power