Microsoft reportedly plans to kill off its Surface tablet lineup following weak sales of its latest Surface Pro 3, according to a new report.

A couple of years ago, Microsoft took everyone by surprise when it decided to launch its own hardware, introducing its Surface Pro and Surface RT tablets. Those models didn't see much success and the Windows RT model was particularly a flop, but the company made another try in 2013 with its second-generation Surface Pro 2 and Windows RT-powered Surface 2. The tablets were still not as successful as Microsoft likely hoped for, but the company kept going nonetheless.

Earlier this year, Microsoft released its Surface Pro 3 tablet, aiming to eliminate the need for a laptop or any other tablet. If a new report turns out to be accurate, however, it seems that the company again failed to fulfill its expectations with the Surface Pro 3.

A recent report from Digitimes claims that the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 generated weak sales so far, which prompted the company to consider ditching the Surface lineup altogether.

The publication claimed to have learned from sources familiar with Microsoft's upstream supply chain that the company is now considering killing off its Surface tablet line, as the Surface Pro 3 failed to perform well on the market.

"Lacking a sufficient number of distribution partners, plus high prices, the first- and second-generation Surface tablets are estimated to have created losses of about US$.7 billion, the sources noted," Digitimes reported.

"Seeing large-size smartphones impacting tablet demand, the sources are concerned about upcoming demand for the Surface Pro 3."

"With the factors above, the sources believe sales of the Surface Pro 3 are unlikely to surpass one million units, adding that Microsoft is also not very aggressive about development of a next-generation Surface and is likely to terminate the product line."

Microsoft has never offered any sales numbers for its Surface tablets, so it remains unclear for now just how poorly the slates performed on the market. Older reports had suggested that the second-generation Surface tablets have been selling well, but the report from Digitimes seems to contradict that.

On the other hand, it's worth pointing out that Digitimes doesn't have the best track record when it comes to the accuracy of its reports, as the publication has oftentimes proved to be hit-and-miss with various leaks.

Microsoft has still not offered any comment in this regards, which means that it all remains in the rumor state for now. We'll keep you up to date as soon as more information becomes available, but take this report with a grain of salt. It's highly unlikely that Microsoft will kill off its Surface tablet line, and Digitimes has a pretty sketchy track record.