According to reports from Master Herald, the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 will come out by the second quarter, or at the latest, by July this year, and if reports about its innovative features are correct, it will be the most interesting tablet to hit the market this year, rivaled only by Apple Inc's iPad Pro, if they get spectacular upgrades, that is.

According to the website, the Surface Pro 4 is a laptop and tablet combo that will come in two variants: the 12-inch and the 14-inch display models, but both to have 2160 x 1440-pixel resolutions.

The laplet, as the gadget is currently dubbed, has the convenience of the tablet but the functionality of the laptop, and according to Phone Arena, it is said to sport processors similar to the Intel Core M Broadwell, for thinner architecture.

Phone Arena also said that, "The Surface Pro 4 may be among the first full powered tablet/Ultrabook/laptop/PC that will ship without a cooling fan." The new Surface Pro 4 is also believed to have as much as 16GB RAM as compared to Apple Inc's Macbook, which comes at only 8GB.

Its storage will possibly be bigger than that of the Surface Pro 3, though, as the earlier generation is available in only 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB storage options, despite the fact that a terabyte or more is already available in plenty of laptops in the market.

For the Surface Pro 4, things may look up, as KDramaStars noted, "In fact, it wouldn't be a surprise if the company reveals a Surface Pro 4 featuring a 1TB storage option for the first time."

Reports also suggested the possibility of launching a Surface Pro 4 Mini, which is said to be powered by an Intel Atom 64-bit processor referred to as the Cherry Trail and will focus on battery management, graphic quality and performance. No specs have been released about the Surface Pro 4 Mini, although it may be launched together with its full-size version before the second half of the year.

Do you think the specs of the Surface Pro 4 is enough to rival Apple Inc's MacBook Pro? Which new gadget will you be buying this year? Check out other rumors about the latest from Microsoft in the video below: