Microsoft's long awaited Surface Duo foldable smartphone costs $1,400 and can be preordered right now

• Microsoft's long-awaited Surface Duo foldable smartphone is now available for preorder. Its price starts at $1,400.
• The Surface Duo has two screens and a 360-degree hinge that lets the screens fully rotate.
• Its design, features, and included apps are built with productivity in mind — it's the Android smartphone equivalent of a dual-monitor computer setup.
• The Surface Duo will be fully released and available to buy starting on September 10.

Microsoft is back in the smartphone game with the long-awaited Surface Duo, a $1,400 foldable smartphone running Android that's focused on productivity.

The Surface Duo is available for preorder starting on August 12. It will be fully released and available to buy starting on September 10.

Unlike Samsung's Galaxy Fold phones that come with a single screen that folds at the center, the Surface Duo is more like a book with two screens on each side. The idea is to either have one single app running on both screens, or to have multiple apps running on both screens simultaneously for multitasking or simulating a dual-monitor computer setup. Each screen measures 5.6 inches. Unfolded, the screen spans 8.1 inches.

The Surface Duo's hinge is capable of rotating 360 degrees, meaning you can fold one of the screens back onto the other one, like a notepad, allowing you to use a single screen like you would a traditional smartphone. The flexible hinge also lets you hold the Duo like an actual book when reading on book apps, as well as folding it into a tent shape to watch videos.

As expected, Microsoft is pre-installing a variety of Microsoft applications, like Office, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, Edge, OneNote, To Do, News, Authenticator, Bing Search, and most importantly (with only the slightest hint of sarcasm) Microsoft Solitaire Collection.

When it comes to specs, the Surface Duo isn't the most formidable phone for its price tag — you're certainly paying for the foldable dual-screened form factor here. It runs on 2019's Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 flagship chip, and it doesn't support 5G connectivity. Even though you could argue that 5G isn't mainstream at the moment, lacking 5G support in particular will draw ire considering the Duo is meant to be a productivity device.

You can preorder the Surface Duo now from Microsoft's online store. We'll update this article with more purchase options as they become available.

Microsoft Surface Duo specs:

• Display: Two 5.6-inch AMOLED screens at 1350p resolution (1,800 x 1,350), 4:3 aspect ratio. Unfolded to 8.1 inches at 2,700 x 1,350 resolution, 3:2 aspect ratio.
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
• Memory and storage: 6GB RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 3.0 storage
• Rear camera: 11-megapixel
• Battery: 3,577mAh