Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 launch could be imminent — here’s the proof

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Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 Bluetooth certification hints the new laptop is coming, but might be a Surface Laptop 3 refresh

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

What appears to be the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 has passed Bluetooth certification, hinting that the next clamshell Surface device may be arriving sooner rather than later.

However, the certification listing details add an interesting snag: it gives the product name as the Surface Laptop 3, and includes a link to the 2019 laptop’s page on the Microsoft site. This could mean that instead of the Surface Laptop 4, we might be getting a Surface Laptop 3+ — not unlike how Microsoft recently launched the Surface Pro 7+ instead of the rumored Surface Pro 8.

Four different models, using the product codes 1952, 1953, 1958 and 1959, passed through the process on January 18. And to be clear, all four Surface Laptop devices must be new, or else they wouldn’t be getting certified now, and the product numbers match those attributed to the Surface Laptop 4 in a previous leak. So this may be an attempt on Microsoft’s part to obscure what was really certified by using the Surface Laptop 3 name and link as a placeholder.

Then again, invoking the Surface Laptop 3 could also signal that the new laptop will be more of an upgrade or refresh than a whole new machine, in a similar vein to the Surface Pro 7+. 

With the Plus model, Microsoft updated the Surface Pro 7 design with 11th-Gen Intel Tiger Lake processors, which is one of the key upgrades that leaks have identified for the Surface Laptop 4. If the Surface Laptop 4 is actually the Surface Laptop 3+, this would simply be following the template Microsoft has now set with the Surface Pro line.

At least we do know a few confirmed specs for whatever this new Surface Laptop is: it uses the Bluetooth 5.1 standard and can connect over Wi-Fi 6. The listing’s description also mentions 13.5 inch and 15-inch variants, the same as the Surface Laptop 3.

James Archer
James Archer

James is currently Hardware Editor at Rock Paper Shotgun, but before that was Audio Editor at Tom’s Guide, where he covered headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes noise. A PC enthusiast, he also wrote computing and gaming news for TG, usually relating to how hard it is to find graphics card stock.