Microsoft’s new Patent Filing Reveals A Mysterious Portable Speaker

The world’s leading multinational technology company, Microsoft, has been working on microphones and portable speakers for quite a while now, and it seems as if we are about to come across a final product very soon. Microsoft’s recent Patent Listing specifies a portable speaker that appears similar to Google’s Home Mini, in terms of design and size. Moreover, Microsoft has even referenced Google’s device in its Patent Application.

Malek Chalabi, the principal design manager for Microsoft Teams devices, is one of the inventors of the portable speaker. He has suggested that the speaker will be used in the meeting rooms. In the past, Microsoft has shown “meeting room of the future” along with various prototype devices having the capability of improving the meetings in its labs. It also illustrated that the company would be further investing in new devices and the latest technology with an objective of re-imagining how meetings work. Another inventor in the patent listing is Dustin Brown, who leads the Industrial Design efforts and operations to create and prototype forward-looking experiences and hardware for the company’s envisioning labs.

Coming to the design of the portable speaker, it appears to have fabric wrapped around its top along with volume buttons on the side and the facility to receive, make, and mute calls. All these details further suggest that the patent relates to Microsoft Teams and its meeting rooms, but doesn’t specify whether the speaker would be Surface-branded or not. Additionally, the speaker also seems to have a removable base, which would allow it to charge and be positioned in the meeting room as per the need.

As of now, Microsoft has declined to comment on this patent listing. However, on 2nd October 2019, the company will be holding a Surface hardware event in New York City, in which it might reveal the details of this particular patent. According to the current rumors, Microsoft is also set to launch an ARM-based Surface, an AMD-powered Surface Laptop, and a new Surface Pro with USB-C.