I think Microsoft's objective with the Surface devices is not to create a profit center, but to set a benchmark.
The Surface devices division is already a profit center, and while it’s true that they wish to set standards and benchmarks for the OEMs to follow, I’m pretty sure that Microsoft is in the market to grow the Surface devices and make as much as possible. It will be like what Google does with their Nexus devices, but with the Surface devices, Microsoft can be a lot more profitable.
With the lead they now hold in the 2-in-1 devices, it’s unlikely that MS will stop as just setting examples. It would be foolish of HS to not go for a huge increase in their market share of PCs. If setting examples was all there was to it, they could have stopped at just doing the Surface Pro devices, but NO!!!, they jumped right into creating tablets too. I’m pretty sure that Apple and Google and the Windows OEMs have taken notice, and that they had better step up their games, otherwise, MS could become the dominant player in the hardware division too, alongside them already being the leading software company on the planet.