Microsoft has reportedly delayed the release of its Surface Phone until October of 2017, leaving Windows 10 Mobile without a new champion.
We’ve been hedging all our Windows 10 Mobile hopes and dreams on Microsoft’s illusory Surface Phone – the device that would supposedly mark the end of its Lumia lineup and instead usher in the era of the ‘Surface family’.
That dream might have just been placed on the backburner, as new reports indicate that Microsoft has delayed the introduction of a Surface Phone until October of 2017. The device itself is becoming close to myth, as we expected we could see it out in the wild as soon as February next year.
Read: Microsoft reportedly preps the Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2 for launch
American technology reporter Mary Jo Foley revealed that while Microsoft could hold an event this year to announce new Surface devices, the reveal of a Surface Phone could only take place next year.
“œSurface Phone, if it does materialize, could be considerably later, sources say,” Foley reported.
German technology news website Dr Windows cites that Microsoft could unveil its Surface Phone by Fall 2017, or early 2018.
Presently, the only lynchpin Microsoft has to rely on is its own aging 950 and 950 XL handsets, and HP’s own enterprise-focussed Elite X3. While the latter is a great advert for Windows 10 Mobile’s Continuum feature – which allows mobile devices to run as fully fledged desktops through a specialised bridge – the device isn’t likely to appeal to the general consumer market thanks to its limited availability.
It’s unclear what the Windows 10 Mobile landscape will look like one year from now – or even two. Manufacturers have displayed a noted lack of interest in Microsoft’s barren mobile platform, and Windows Phone’s market share presently sits underneath 1% internationally.
Read: Microsoft‘s Word Flow keyboard arrives on iPhone
What are your thoughts? Is there any hope for Windows 10 Mobile? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
