The upgrade might not be pushed to some older smartphones after all

Jan 16, 2013 07:37 GMT  ·  By

There have been lots of rumors surrounding the next major update for Windows Phone, which is expected to arrive in the next few weeks.

Although Microsoft previously confirmed that it would launch the upgrade for all Windows Phone 7.5 handsets, a few OEMs said that some of their smartphones would not receive the update.

The idea that their devices will become obsolete after Windows Phone 7.8 goes live made some users angry. Then there were reports that all smartphones would receive the update and everything went quiet until today.

The folks over at WMPoweruser report that Windows Phone Russia confirmed that the next update for Microsoft’s mobile operating system would be available for all handsets. However, the final decision to offer the update to a specific model will be up to the manufacturer.

This means that older smartphones launched by LG, HTC and Samsung might not get the long-awaited Windows Phone 7.8 upgrade after all.

Although Samsung confirmed that its Omnia W would receive the update, other handset manufacturers, including HTC and LG announced that some of their older Windows Phone devices would not be upgraded.

The latest information comes from HTC, as the company claims that the decision to push the update to HTC Mozart is still to be confirmed. It appears that the Taiwanese company has yet to make up its mind on this one.

The same goes for LG, which announced several months ago that the Optimus 7 would not be eligible for the Windows Phone 7.8 update.

Most OEMs will probably try to offer their customers the option to upgrade to a newer smartphone instead of updating to Windows Phone 7.8.

For the time being, this is just pure speculation, but it won’t come as a surprise if some handset makers will announce that their devices will not receive the hotly-anticipated Windows Phone 7.8 update, thus forcing owners to purchase a newer phone. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.