Mysterious black Surface Book appears in advertisement for Microsoft 365

What you need to know

• A black Surface Book has been spotted in a Microsoft advertisement image.
• The black device looks similar to the Surface Earbuds "graphite" color scheme.
• The ad is likely in error, though it's cool to see what a darker Surface Book might look like.

An advertisement image for Microsoft 365 has been spotted on Facebook featuring what appears to be a black Surface Book device of some kind. The ad itself simply takes you to the Microsoft website, but it's interesting to see a black version of the Surface Book in center frame even though such a product isn't available for sale.

It's likely that this is a mistake on behalf of the agency that Microsoft is using to create and distribute these advertisements, but that doesn't mean such a device doesn't exist internally. Windows Central understands that Microsoft has gone back and forth on black versions of all of its Surface products, including the Surface Go, Surface Studio, and indeed Surface Book.

Microsoft has shipped a handful of Surface products in black, including the Surface Laptop, Surface Pro, Surface Pro X, and Surface Headphones. Microsoft was planning to ship a black Surface Go 2 (codenamed Goma) in January, but that device was canceled for unknown reasons.

It's also worth noting that a black Surface Studio was spotted in the background of one of Microsoft's Ignite presentations last year, though that product doesn't exist for customers to buy. Either way, it's interesting to see black versions of these devices show up in random places, even though none of them are products for sale.

Hopefully Microsoft releases the next versions of the Surface Studio, Surface Go, and Surface Book in black as well as platinum. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the black Surface devices? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks for the tip, Jason Ward!