Microsoft will unveil the third generation of its Surface tablets on May 20, according to reports.

Various publications stated that Microsoft will announce a new set of tablets later this month, including an 8-inch version dubbed as Surface Mini. Rumor has it that the company is already prepping up for the launch event. If rumors proved to be true, this is the first time that Microsoft will introduce a Surface Mini seeing the profitability in the 8-inch market.

A CNET report suggested that the company is expected to come out with a fresh Intel-powered Surface tablet. It has claimed that Microsoft will launch the new tablets on May 20. The CNET report said, "There's definitely a new Intel-based Surface...From what I can assess so far I think it's going to [have] a new power-optimized Haswell variant." Packing Intel processors could be a main selling point of the tablets.

Aside from the latest Intel-Haswell processors, it was speculated that the tablets will sport a 2K display. Meanwhile, consumers based in UK finally get their hands on the 4G/LTE version of the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, which arrived in the US last year.

It is still unclear whether consumers will see new tablets later this month as the Redmond-based software giant has not confirmed any rumors at the moment.

However, it is deemed that the upcoming Surface tablets will take a bite on iPad Air and iPad Mini Retina sales. The successors of the iPad line are bound to arrive later this year, most probably in October. Both iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 will pack a TouchID fingerprint sensor, A8 processor, iOS 8 and waterproof feature.

It seemed that Microsoft want to gain an advantage and increasing its leverage by releasing the tablet earlier compared to Apple. Microsoft Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 were launched in October 2013 and the company immediately marked down the prices of the after it failed to make its appeal to consumers.