A new patent has revealed the design of possible new portable speaker from Microsoft. This patent reveals the ornamental design of portable speaker. From the images, we can notice that this round speaker will have call, volume and mute controls on the top. We are not sure whether Microsoft is still working on this product since this patent was submitted by them in 2017.
Since Microsoft’s focus around Cortana has shifted to the enterprise, we don’t think this speaker will be released for general consumers. Microsoft may release it as a meeting room accessory for enterprise customers.
One of the inventors, Malek Chalabi, is a principle design manager for Microsoft Teams devices, suggesting that this portable speaker will be used for meeting rooms. Microsoft first showed off an impressive meeting room of the future back at Build last year, and the company has prototype devices that improve meetings in its labs. Another inventor listed in the patent is Dustin Brown, who leads “industrial design efforts to create and prototype forward-looking hardware and experiences” for Microsoft’s envisioning labs.
The portable speaker itself appears to have a fabric wrapped around the top, alongside volume buttons and the ability to make, receive, and mute calls. That further suggests this is related to Microsoft Teams and meeting rooms, but it’s not clear whether this particular device will be Surface-branded. The device also appears to have a removable base, perhaps to allow it to charge and be positioned around a meeting room.
Microsoft is holding a Surface hardware event in New York City on October 2nd, and we may well see this particular device next month.
