Of course it might be doing so to make sure that it can get the latest Intel Kaby Lake chip, but given that will only offer minimal improvements we are sticking with the annus horribilis excuse.

Delaying the Surface Pro 5 would mean that that it misses out on the Christmas sales which makes it one of the best times to sell a new toy. The Surface Pro 5 is set to succeed the Surface Pro 4 which is part of Microsoft's 2-in-1 detachable in the Surface series, designed and manufactured by the company. Launching it around Christmas also means that Redmond can off-load any Pro 4 inventory in the January sales and Black Friday events.

But it seems that Microsoft things it is better to start the New Year with the latest that Intel can offer. The next-gen 14nm Kaby Lake processors will be 7th gen processors which will be designed to draw less power and provide better battery life. Most significantly, the processors will run on a whopping 16GB of RAM.

The device will also be showcasing an Nvidia Pascal or AMD Polaris GPU for better viewing, artwork and gaming experience.

The device is also slated to come with a USB Type-C Port with a rechargeable Surface Pen and a micro SD card slot for storage expansion. Like many smartphones and some tablets, the Surface Pro 5 is rumoured to feature a fingerprint scanner.