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Today’s Brief

Ceuta drowns, yen gets help

Europe quarrels over Ceuta as Trump pauses Iran strikes and drought hits reactors

Borders, rivers and currencies did most of the moving overnight. Europe argued over Ceuta, Washington and Tehran traded incompatible claims, and drought pushed old energy assumptions into the open.

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  • Search off Symi for missing tourists

    Search continues for five missing passengers after an unmanned sailboat was found drifting off the Greek island of Symi, where one woman has been rescued alive.

  • Lula launches Brazil reelection bid

    Announces official candidacy for a fourth presidential term at a party convention in Sao Paulo, setting up a race against Flavio Bolsonaro.

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European Union · Updated 1h ago

The ageing Union's economy

New findings detail how extreme heat is disrupting river transport and power generation, and German industry leaders have issued a warning about job losses and a structural competitiveness crisis.

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© engadget
AI & Tech·Jun 16

Microsoft's new Surface Pro and Laptop arrive with Snapdragon X2 chips and $600 price hike

Microsoft's 8th-gen Surface Laptop and 12th-gen Surface Pro launch with Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 processors and haptic enhancements, but base prices climb to $1,499 and $1,599.

Same shell, new chips

Both the 12th-generation Surface Pro and 8th-generation Surface Laptop retain the aluminum unibody, 3:2 display, and port selection of the 2024 models. New colourways, Dune for the Pro and both laptop sizes, and Jade exclusive to the 13.8-inch laptop, sit alongside platinum and black. The 15-inch Surface Laptop now packs a 262 ppi IPS LCD, up from 200 ppi. The Surface Pro again offers an optional OLED panel rated at 900 nits HDR peak brightness.

Performance and battery

The devices run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 platform in 10-core X2 Plus or 12-core X2 Elite configurations; the top-tier X2 Elite Extreme is absent. Microsoft claims 53 percent faster graphics on the Pro and 58 percent faster on the Laptop over the Snapdragon X1 generation. Battery figures from internal video-loop tests reach 15.5 hours for the Pro, 20 hours for the 13.8-inch Laptop, and 19 hours for the 15-inch Laptop.

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Price increase and storage downgrade

The Surface Laptop starts at $1,599, a $600 jump over its original $999 launch price and $100 above the $1,499 tag set in April 2026. The base configuration ships with 256 GB of SSD storage, half the 512 GB that had become the minimum on last year’s consumer model. The Surface Pro begins at $1,499 (a $500 rise from its $999 debut, and $300 above the early-2026 $1,199 level) with 256 GB storage, and its detachable keyboard remains a separate purchase. Buyers who order from Microsoft.com before June 30 receive a free Type Cover; after that the standard keyboard costs $170, or $400 for the wireless Flex Keyboard.

Surface starting prices over time (USD) · $
Surface Laptop (2024 launch)
999
Surface Laptop (Apr 2026)
1,499
Surface Laptop 8 (June 2026)
1,599
Surface Pro (2024 launch)
999
Surface Pro (early 2026)
1,199
Surface Pro 12 (June 2026)
1,499
Surface Laptop (2024 launch)
999 $
Surface Laptop (Apr 2026)
1499 $
Surface Laptop 8 (June 2026)
1599 $
Surface Pro (2024 launch)
999 $
Surface Pro (early 2026)
1199 $
Surface Pro 12 (June 2026)
1499 $

Subtle haptics

Microsoft added precise haptic feedback to the Surface Laptop’s trackpad and the Surface Pro’s Slim Pen. Small vibrations accompany window snapping, video scrubbing, and image alignment in apps like PowerPoint.

The confidence that you get by feeling that haptics feedback when you get your cursor to the right spot, it is subtle and yet it is powerful from a confidence and a trust perspective

— Brett Ostrum

Brett Ostrum, Microsoft’s CVP of Surface, described the haptic capability as available to other OEMs as well.

Business variants coming

Microsoft also announced commercial versions of both devices with Snapdragon X2. The Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 for Business launch on July 14, starting at $1,649.99. Unlike the consumer models, the business line also offers Intel Panther Lake chips (announced last month) with prices from $1,949.99.

Claimed battery life (local video playback) · hours
Surface Pro 13
15.5
Surface Laptop 13.8
20
Surface Laptop 15
19
Surface Pro 13
15.5 hours
Surface Laptop 13.8
20 hours
Surface Laptop 15
19 hours
Redmond
Brett Ostrum
RedmondBrett Ostrum

6 sources

  • Microsoft's new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop cost $500 and $600 more than their predecessors - Engadget
    engadget·Jun 16
  • Microsoft's New Surface Laptop Features a Trackpad With 'Rumble' Built In
    Gizmodo·Jun 16
  • The Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 now come with Snapdragon X2 chips
    The Verge·Jun 16
  • Microsoft's Latest Surface PCs Offer Better Graphics, Faster AI
    Bloomberg Business·Jun 16
  • Microsoft reveals new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop with big graphics upgrades from Snapdragon X2 CPUs -- but they're seriously pricey
    TechRadar·Jun 16
  • Microsoft's New Surface Laptop and Surface Pro Get Faster -- and Way More Expensive
    Wired·Jun 15

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