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Disco, Pogs, and the Microsoft Surface 3

Name three things that are dead

Microsoft is wrapping up production of its Surface 3 tablet, with no successor in sight.

The Redmond giant has confirmed reports that it will be ending production of the Atom-powered tablet at the end of the year and selling out its current stock of hardware. The Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book remain available.

"Since launching Surface 3 over a year ago, we have seen strong demand and satisfaction amongst our customers," Microsoft said in a statement to El Reg.

"We can confirm that by the end of December 2016, we will no longer manufacture Surface 3 devices."

The move casts some doubt on whether Redmond plans to stay in the consumer tablet market. Microsoft has yet to introduce a successor to the Surface 3, prompting speculation that the Windows maker will pull itself out of the low-end space and focus instead on its higher-priced hardware lines.

Introduced in 2015, the Surface 3 was a departure from Microsoft's previous Surface RT consumer tablet. The 10.8-inch tablet eschewed the ARM processor used in previous models for an Intel Atom CPU.

A Reg review of the tablet found it solid, but not quite impressive. The tablet was seen as a strong option for Windows fanbois, but not quite enough to convert iPad and Android users from their slabs of choice.

Tablets have not been a strong market for anyone this year, let alone a company looking to establish itself as the third player in a two-horse race between Android and iPad devices.

Shipments have been down across the board this year, with Microsoft failing to crack the top 5 per cent in a market still dominated by Apple and Samsung. Those two companies combined to take up more than 40 per cent of the total tablet market share in the first quarter of the year. ®

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