The new platform release is expected to arrive in fall 2012

Feb 28, 2012 14:24 GMT  ·  By

Codenamed Apollo, Windows Phone 8 is expected to become available before the end of this year, and two leading handset vendors already confirmed plans to bring to the market devices powered by it.

We’re referring here to the Taiwanese handset vendor HTC and South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung.

Both of them plan the launch of devices running under Microsoft’s next mobile operating system flavor, although they did not offer specific info on when these might arrive.

"For Windows Phone we haven't decided on the branding yet, but you will see a new range of Windows Phones from us when Microsoft release their new Apollo operating system," Kouji Kodera, HTC's chief product officer stated, Pocket-lint reports.

HTC launched a new family of devices at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, namely the “One” series, and it might aim at having upcoming Windows Phone devices included in this lineup, the same as LG did with its Optimus 7.

The info on Samsung’s plans for Windows Phone 8 devices comes from Matt Brum, head of product management at the leading mobile phone maker. He told Techradar that the company was working with Microsoft to have these devices on shelves before year’s end.

In fact, the company is focused on releasing a new range of mobile devices powered by Microsoft’s platform, ranging from smartphones to tablets and laptops.

“[Windows Phone 8] is coming at the end of the year, and will increase the capability of the platform, and Samsung is looking to optimise its devices on that,” he said.

“We're very excited about [Windows Phone 8], as we're one of very few manufacturers that can do the convergence story that we can – so the fact that Windows 8 covers everything from tablets to laptops to phones is very cool.”

This leaves little room for speculation, that’s for sure. Just as expected, Microsoft will have Windows Phone 8 on shelves one year after the launch of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and two year’s after Windows Phone 7.

What remains to be seen is to what extent the smartphone OS will feature Windows 8 capabilities. After all, the two are expected to resemble a lot.