After more than a year and a half on store shelves, Microsoft will discontinue by December 2016 the production of the Surface 3 low-cost tablet.

Critics were not impressed by the Surface 3 low-entry tablet, because its eMMC storage, slower Intel Atom processor and its modest battery life. The hybrid two-in-one could not offer a rich Windows 10 experience, being more suited for light Windows tasks. This might be one of the reasons why the high-tech company has decided to stop producing the tablet.

PC Mag reports that Microsoft is officially discontinuing production and sales for its Surface 3 tablet. This is likely not surprising for those customers who, at one point, tried to buy one recently from the Microsoft Store. The only model currently available costs $500 and comes with 2 GB of memory, 64 GB of storage and both 4G LTE and Wi-Fi capabilities. If you're trying to order Surface 3 online, every other version on Microsoft's site is listed as "Email me when available."

The website Thurrott.com also reports that Microsoft made a statement announcing that Inventory for the Surface 3 is now limited. The company will no longer manufacture the device by the end of December 2016.

ZDNet reports that Microsoft sources suggest that the company is seemingly still trying to figure out whether to release a Surface 3 successor or not. In case that it does, it is likely that the hardware would launch once Windows 10's next major update, "Redstone 2," arrives in spring of 2017.

If these devices are meant to combine the usability of a good tablet with the elegance of an Apple product, it is also possible that Microsoft gives up on the notion of an entry-level device for the Surface brand. According to Engadget, there's no doubt that the higher-end Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 are the stars of this hardware generation. There are no signs that Microsoft would plan to launch a Surface 4 or any other entry-level tablet.