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Surface RT vs. Surface Duo - Detailed Specs Comparison

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

BY Evan Forrest November 15, 2023

Surface RT vs. Surface Duo

The 2012 Surface RT features the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 with the boost speed up to 1.40 GHz. While the 2020 Surface Duo features the 5W Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-core Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 with a clock speed of 2.84 GHz.

If you are in the market looking for a laptop and don't know what's the difference between the 10.6″ Surface RT (2012) and the 8.1″ Surface Duo (2020), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface RT vs. Surface Duo: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface RT See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Duo 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 RT	Surface Duo
Released	2012	2020
Release Info	Introduced: June 18, 2012 Not available for pre-ordered Released: October 26, 2012	Introduced: Microsoft October Event (October 2, 2019) Pre-ordered: August 12, 2020 Released: September 10, 2020
Pricing	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	$1,399 - 128 GB $1,499 - 256 GB

Surface RT Price
	Microsoft Surface RT 64GB By Microsoft $149.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface RT (32GB) By Microsoft $229.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface RT 32GB (Renewed) By Microsoft $148.00	See at Amazon
Surface Duo Price
	Microsoft Surface Duo 128GB AT&T Locked, Glacier (Renewed) By Microsoft $379.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Duo 2 5G - Dual 5.8 inches Screen - Unlocked Smartphone with 8 GB Memory and All Day Battery Life (128 GB, Glacier White) (Renewed) By Microsoft $1,222.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Duo Bumper 2 - Tangerine By Microsoft $29.95	See at Amazon

Display	Surface RT	Surface Duo
Size	10.6 Inches	8.1 Inches
Info	Resolution: 1366 x 768 (1M Pixels) Density: 148 PPI Aspect ratio: 16:9 ClearType HD Display Touch: 5 points multi-touch	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

Exterior	Surface RT	Surface Duo
Size Comparison
Dimensions	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)	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
Weight	1.5 lbs (680 g)	0.55 lbs (250 g)
Colors	Dark Titanium	Glacier
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 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	1 x USB Type-C 1 x SIM card slot

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

Connectivity	Surface RT	Surface Duo
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 4: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n compatible.	WiFi-5 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz)
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0 low energy technology	Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 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 RT	Surface Duo
Size	31.5 Wh	3577 mAh
Battery Life	Up to 8 hours of video playback	Up to 15.5 hours of Local Video Playback Up to 10 days of Standby Time Up to 27 hours of Talk Time
Power Supply	24W proprietary power supply	18W USB-C PD charger

Software	Surface RT	Surface Duo
OS	Windows RT Upgradeable to Windows RT 8.1 Update	Android™ 10 3-years of software updates.
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT	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)

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

Misc	Surface RT	Surface Duo
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	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Compass	Dual Accelerometer Dual Gyroscope Dual Magnetometer Dual Ambient Light Sensor Proximity Sensor Hall Sensor Fingerprint Sensor
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 RT Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Duo Surface Duo Bumper (Color: Glacier) Surface Duo USB-C® Power Supply (18w) Quick Start Guide Warranty and Compliance Guide SIM Ejector tool
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	Casing: VaporMg Kickstand: 1 position at 22° Physical buttons: volumes, power	Exterior Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass