Microsoft is launching its Surface Duo dual-screen Android phone on September 10th, priced from $1,399.

Unlike foldables like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, the Surface Duo is using real Gorilla Glass, and the displays are designed to work in a similar way to multiple monitors on a Windows PC.

Microsoft is using an 11-megapixel f/2.0 camera, which will include auto modes for low light, HDR multi-frame captures, and a “super zoom” up to 7x.

Microsoft has tweaked its own apps like the Office suite and OneDrive to span the displays, and third parties like Amazon have also done work on the Kindle app to make it feel like you’re reading a book by flicking pages across the two screens.

Apps like Microsoft Teams and PowerPoint are also optimized so you can see a video call and the rest of your Teams chat, or look at a full slide and the rest of the deck simultaneously.

Satya and I had a lot of conversations.” Microsoft had to go with Android for the pure reason of mobile apps, especially after Windows Phone failed in the market.

Microsoft has created APIs for dual-screen apps to work in the Android codebase, and it plans to upstream them for other manufacturers and third parties to use.

“I believe that two screens are coming, I think they’re needed.” It will be interesting to see how developers adapt their Android apps here, and it’s key to the overall success of dual-screen or foldable devices in general.

Price will be a sticking point for Surface Duo, just as it was for the Galaxy Fold and other devices that will try to usher in a foldable or dual-screen future.

A lack of 5G and NFC, questions over battery life, and the camera quality will all need to be addressed in our Surface Duo review, but Microsoft is clearly at the start of a future it believes in.