Microsoft Surface Mini release date: Specs of the rumored Windows-powered tablet has been unveiled by Phone Arena in a December 18, 2013 report, citing as a source Chinese-language news site WPDang.

The gadget review and news site noted that the Microsoft Surface Mini is likely to be an 8-inch tablet, will sport air gestures and have a 1080P display. Phone Arena noted that it’s likely to arrive sometime this year. It’s expected to have Windows 8.1 and a Bay Trail chipset to ensure longevity.

According to Phone Arena, news sources claim that the upcoming Windows tablet will have some sort of Kinect-like air gesture technology, though there are no leaks or speculations on how such features would be implemented.

Microsoft Surface Mini and is possible arrival in the market was fueled by a comment made by a key Microsoft executive in charge for the Redmond tech-giant’s Surface division. It seems his suggestion has sparked all the rumors on comments on a coming Surface Mini device.

“We have a lot of great things that we are thinking about and working on, and there are multiple aspect ratios and sizes and awesome things to come from Surface,” was the answer of Panos Panay's, Microsoft VP responsible for the company’s Surface tablets, when asked about the details of the rumored Microsoft Surface Mini, according to Geekwire.com.

It was the Surface 2’s previously announced details that were the focus of the talk but in the end Panay was questioned about the speculation relating to Microsoft’s plan of working on a “Surface Mini”. Panay however was too careful with his words when he answered it and added to his earlier comments, “That’s the best answer I have for you”.

Although for now the horizontal orientation remains the only choice, Microsoft is working on enhancing the hardware with the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. This is in line with existing concern about the Surface device’s landscape orientation, making the tablets bulky for portrait mode use.

Panay repeated what he first mentioned in last week’s Reddit Q&A about the plan of Microsoft to come out next year with Surface 2 having an LTE enabled version. He stressed out however that a version of the Surface Pro 2 with LTE isn’t possible although the devices, as he expects it, will be initially available in the U.S. on AT&T and Vodafone in Europe.

At the time of this writing, both the 32GB and 64GB versions of the Surface 2 are out of stock and all but the highest-end variant of the Surface Pro 2 is available from the Microsoft Store.