Somewhat new on the inside, identical on the outside. That could well be the summary of Microsoft's renovation of its Surface product range yesterday. At a special event in New York, several company executives launched the new Surface Pro 6, Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Studio 2.

The event didn't stop there: Windows 10 October 2018 Update, Microsoft's great operating system update, is now available for download, although the surprise of the event was the new Surface Headphones with noise cancellation and Cortana support.

Alongside refreshes galore to their Surface hardware lineup of laptops, all-in-one devices and convertible PCs, Microsoft did have a surprise announcement as part of their media event earlier today. This included a whole new product genre under the Surface brand in the form of headphones.

The new Surface headphones join the current trend of audiophile-rated wireless headphones, which sounds like a misnomer in itself, and comes with 13 levels of noise cancellation with 8 microphones for the process controlled via an adjustment dial as per Anandtech. This is an over-the-ear style headphones offering beam-forming for hands-free calling and Cortana support for when you want to use Microsoft's take on the virtual assistant. Pairing via Bluetooth and coming in the now-standard Surface gray color scheme, the Surface headphones are priced at $349 and will be available later this year.