Microsoft has confirmed that smaller Windows 8 tablets will come to market in the near future. These will fill a gap in the Windows ecosystem and boost demand for Windows 8 by addressing key downsides to the early Surface tablets.

Windows tablet sales seemed to start off impressively, but the overall results so far are mediocre at best. Microsoft isn’t sharing the numbers, but recent reports suggest that 1.5 million Surface tablets have sold, with 400,000 of them Surface Pro. The Surface Pro sold out almost instantly, but without actual sales data, it’s hard to know whether that’s impressive.

Windows 8 tablet failings

If one thing has hampered the success of Windows 8 tablets, it’s price. The Surface RT is an impressive piece of hardware and a worthy tablet competitor, but it costs the same $ 500 as the entry-level model of the extremely popular iPad—and nearly double the price of the Amazon Kindle Fire 8.9 HD. Starting at $ 900, the 10.6-inch Surface Pro is astronomical for a tablet. Even though it’s really a tablet-ultrabook hybrid of sorts, it is perceived as a tablet.

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