Redmond is launching a trade-in program for Surface

Feb 18, 2015 10:31 GMT  ·  By

If you purchased a Surface tablet in the past and now want to upgrade to a newer model, this is pretty much the best you could hope for, as Microsoft has just launched a new trade-in campaign that pays people money for old Surface versions.

As Microsoft notes on the official website of the campaign, you can get up to $650 (€570) for a Surface tablet, depending on the model you currently own.

The problem is that this amount of money is only offered for the Surface Pro 3, so unless you want to upgrade to the 512 GB version with an i7 processor, it's really hard to get this price.

Those who own the original Surface tablet powered by Windows RT and launched in October 2012 together with Windows 8 would only get $95 (€70), so they won't save too much money despite the fact that they're willing to give up on their old tablet.

In search of better Surface Pro 3 sales

Microsoft has already stated that the Surface Pro 3 is one of the best-selling models of its tablet so far, but the company hasn't actually provided specifics on this, so it's hard to determine whether it's more successful than its predecessor or not.

And yet, the new trade-in program is living proof that Microsoft is still seeking ways to boost sales of the Surface Pro 3, which continues to be a fairly expensive choice, despite its powerful hardware.

The top-of-the-range Surface Pro 3, for instance, can be purchased in the United States for $1,950 (€1,500) with an Intel i7 processor, 512 GB of storage space, and 8 GB of RAM.

Since bringing out the Surface Pro 3 in May 2014, Microsoft has rolled out several discounts in an attempt to make the device more affordable, but there's no doubt that, for consumers, it remains a pretty expensive purchase.

The company is said to be working on a more affordable Surface tablet that could be launched in the coming months, but it remains to be seen if Microsoft is ready to go from premium to budget in such a short time.