Microsoft Surface Pro 12 (2026) launches at $1,149 — fanless, lighter, but with a dimmer, ghosting-prone display. The 256 GB model is available now on Amazon in the US. No Indian pricing or availability has been announced. This is not a refresh of the Surface Pro 13, it’s a standalone update to the smaller, 12-inch convertible line, keeping last year’s chassis and kickstand design almost unchanged.
Weight remains under 700 grams. Build quality is excellent. The kickstand still bends too easily. There are no user-serviceable parts, no SSD hatch, no RAM upgrade path.
Everything is soldered. You get two USB-C ports. Neither supports USB4. Both support DisplayPort Alt Mode and USB Power Delivery.
Notebookcheck confirmed they drove a 4K monitor at 144 Hz without issue. Wi-Fi 7 is onboard. No 5G. No microSD slot.
No headphone jack. The front camera is 1080p with Windows Hello. The rear camera is 10 MP. The Snapdragon X2 Plus SoC has six CPU cores, down from eight in last year’s X1 Plus.
It’s slower in multi-core workloads, but single-core performance is stronger. The Adreno X2-45 iGPU runs at up to 915 MHz and is about 20% faster than last year’s, though still not built for local gaming. Windows on ARM compatibility gaps remain. The screen is the headline change, and the headline problem.
Resolution and refresh rate are identical: 2196 × 1464, 90 Hz IPS. But the panel vendor switched from BOE to Sharp. Brightness crept up slightly, 511 nits average, but black level rose to 0.44 cd/m², slashing contrast to ~1200:1. Response times slowed.
Ghosting is visible even at 90 Hz. Touch remains highly reflective. Color accuracy is excellent, full sRGB, calibrated grayscale, so photo editing holds up. No PWM flicker detected.
Battery life: up to 14 hours at 150 nits over Wi-Fi, 8 hours at max brightness. That’s slightly less than last year’s model, likely tied to the new panel’s power draw. RAM starts at 16 GB, goes up to 24 GB. Storage is 256 GB UFS (Samsung-sourced in the review unit).
The Surface Pro 12 (2026) ships with Windows 11 ARM. Notebookcheck calls it ‘still unrivaled’ as a fanless Windows convertible, but adds that the previous-gen model may be the smarter buy if still in stock. Amazon lists the 256 GB SKU at $1,149, the only configuration confirmed available at launch.
RRFiled by The Reviews Roundup Desk
What the reviews are saying: verdicts on new devices from the outlets that tested them, summarised and credited to each. This desk does not test products itself.
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