Some people who applied for Surpass have received correspondence mentioning Ascend. I think this indicates it is a name change, rather than a new product, but for new account bonus eligibility purposes we will not know until we see the wording of an Ascend offer.
I received notification on my November HHonors Surpass statement that my annual fee would be increasing to $95 upon my annual account renewal in Feb 2018. Leads one to believe that the Surpass card account will simply be replaced with the Ascend card account and thus no new bonuses for existing Surpass cardholders. (Admittedly, speculation.)
Edit: What the flummox happened to the format of these forums today? It doesn't get much uglier than this.